Demeter's Daughter
by AmericanWordsmith
Summary: When Caroline Forbes is forced to turn off her humanity she doesn't stick around her friends from Mystic Falls. She heads south, to the one and only city of true decadence and debauchery: New Orleans. Picks up mid TVD 6.16 / TO 2.15.
1. Goodbye, Demeter

_**Author's note:** This picks up right after the opening of The Vampire Diaries' **episode 6.16** and then follows my own AU where Caroline goes to New Orleans where her story crosses with The Originals' **episode 2.15**. **SPOILERS FOR BOTH EPISODES FROM THIS POINT FORWARD. **_

_I know a lot of really horrific stuff happens later in episode 6.16 which is really fun to see Caroline's character do for once, but we're skipping all of that. I'd like to play around with humanity-less Caroline on my own for a bit; I promise it will be just as wicked, especially because Klaus will be there for a lot of it. ;) _

* * *

_**Goodbye, Demeter**_

_**1**_

Caroline was camped out at Scull Bar, reveling in the almost old-saloon type decor that kept the lights nice and dim but in still cheery. Caroline wasn't feeling cheery, she wasn't feeling anything. Nevertheless, she had wanted something different than a typical dingy bar scene tonight. Something a little more upbeat.

"Hello! I'm empty!" Caroline called out, not caring how rude she sounded, to the clearly busy bartender. "Fill please."

"I think you've had enough," the bartender told her softly.

"Ha," she deadpanned before pointing to her face. "Look at my face. This is me straining to care less about what you think." She took a moment to fake a look of concentration. "Nope! I can't."

She laughed and the bartender actually did too. Must have been a sucker for a pretty blonde, like every other man in the world.

"Okay, I'm gonna call you a cab," he said, kindly, but she grabbed his hand the second he tried to turn away.

"Here's the thing, my mom just _died_ and I just put her dead, cancer-riddled body into the ground four hours and thirty-two minutes ago," she said.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he replied, his demeanor switching instantly.

"Oh no no no, I don't care about _that_," she explained, gesturing wildly, "I'm just saying that my feet have been crammed into the world's most uncomfortable heels for an entire day and your tequila is the only thing that seems to be helping."

"Okay," he said, with a defeated sigh. "I'll grab you another drink."

"Thank you!" she said, sitting up in triumph when a male body stepped up beside her. It had been mere hours since she'd snapped Elena's neck and turned off her humanity. And so far, she was having one of the best nights of her life.

"Caroline Forbes," the young man said, "The girl from the swimming hole."

"_Liam_, the boy I totally forgot existed!" she replied, turning to him and propping her head on her hand.

"Ouch!" he laughed, "I was just about to tell you how sexy you looked."

She laughed, barely concealing an eye roll. "You are drunk!"

"Slightly buzzed, getting my ass whooped in shuffleboard upstairs."

"Oh, lucky you. _I _spent all day at my mom's funeral. God you're cute! Are you a doctor yet?" she asked, ignoring his stunned face.

"Hang on, your mom just died?" he asked.

"Do you want to get out of here?" she returned.

"Uh, I…"

"What?" she asked. "Girlfriend? We all know you're not dating Elena Gilbert."

"Why would I be dating Elena?" he asked, even more confused.

"You wouldn't," she answered with a laugh. "But, even if you were, it wouldn't matter. Because nothing matters… Not. A. Thing." She punctuated the last three words by walking her fingers up his chest seductively.

His breathing hitched in his throat. It was clearly working. And fifteen minutes later she was throwing him into a wall before launching herself onto his lips. It wasn't the best kiss she had had by any means, but he was serving his purpose.

And then, as he was kissing her neck, her instincts started showing. Humanity already switched off, she didn't hesitate as her fangs automatically descended and she grinned up at him wickedly. His eyes widened in terror at the sight of her face.

"Caroline, what-"

She bit, ignoring his screams and struggles as she drained him. This was the most satisfied she had felt in months.

* * *

Whispers of about the presence of a beautiful, blonde and, above all, _young_ vampire were rapidly making the rounds of New Orleans within hours of her arrival. It was why Caroline hadn't bothered to make an attempt of finding out where Klaus even lived. He'd find her; she was sure of that.

Not that she was even here specifically to see _him_, of course. This was purely about logistics. Not only was this the best city to live in for a life of debauchery and pain-avoidance, no one here would _dare _mess with her while Klaus was around. He'd mess with her, that was likely unavoidable. But when Caroline thought back to their tryst in the woods… Well, there certainly wasn't anything wrong in a few romps with the most sexually experienced vampire in history. No strings-attached and everything without her humanity on.

She'd thought a lot about where to go next after she'd finished off Liam. Well, not that hard actually. She'd thought about what would be the most _fun _and New Orleans had been the natural assumption after Mexico City, but Caroline was terrible at Spanish. She'd compelled herself a train ticket out of Virginia on the express. Three hours and a couple crappy beers later, she was in NOLA, loving the warm air and sunshine.

She'd walked into what had appeared a primarily human bar in the French Quarter after taking a cab from the train station. She didn't have much with her, just a small vintage leather wardrobe suitcase in a garish baby pink. She was decked out like Lolita to match — hair done up in two, bouncy pigtails, large white sunglasses, tight short-shorts and a neon-pink crop top, precariously balanced on top of some dangerously high strappy sandals.

She compelled the bartender at the bar to keep the drinks coming without asking and to throw in a dozen raw oysters while he was at it. Within seconds, whoever must have been the single vampire also in the bar had the humans mostly cleared out. Just a few lingered, clearly pets or witches.

Caroline rolled her eyes, annoyed. She knew she'd be noticed fast but she hadn't expected it to be _this _fast. Was she stupid to hope she could have had a few days head start in the city before Klaus rounded her up? She slurped down her last oyster unceremoniously and hopped down from the bar, making her way out briskly but casually.

Instead of ducking into another local haunt, she headed south towards the French Market to walk around. She took her time sampling whatever she felt like as she happened upon it, compelling vendors quickly and quietly. Chocolate, some plantain chips, a bright blue snowcone. Fingering through a selection of woven handbags with voodoo imagery, Caroline felt eyes on her.

She turned at vamp speed, catching the eyes of a young woman just before she turned away and disappeared into the crowd. Something about the girl had exuded paranormal and Caroline suspected she may have been a witch. She'd had enough of those lately in her old life… and she had no idea what New Orleans covens were capable of. Caroline dropped the bag she had been holding and left the market. The Mississippi River was just beyond the market and she felt she could use a walk.

* * *

She'd only walked for a bit, choosing instead to lie out on a grassy bank in the park and watch the boats go by. Some of them looked like steamboats but she didn't know if they were real or not; she didn't think they really used steamboats anymore.

It was strange, not having humanity. After seeing Elena and Stefan living like that, she'd thought all she'd want to do would be drink, have sex, party, and feed. To be fair, that was _almost_ all she wanted to do but… feeling nothing, just sitting around and watching the world didn't feel too bad either. It was hard to get bored when you didn't feel anything.

Eventually, though, dusk began to set in and she began to feel a bit peckish. It was still too light out to take anyone on the street… but perhaps she could round someone up and get them back to a hotel. She wouldn't have to kill them. If she did it would probably just help Klaus find her faster. _That is, if he doesn't already know where you are_, she thought. _If he's not already watching you right now. _

The thought made her shudder, an involuntary action that made her prickle with annoyance at having a feeling. She wasn't supposed to have anxiety anymore. She took a moment to compose herself, focus on the switch within her, and sink further into the void.

When she felt cool and unaffected again, she stood-up and dusted herself off before heading back towards the Quarter. It didn't seem worth it to attempt to find a place free of vampires or wolves — the city was crawling with them. And they were all whispering, some outright _pointing _at her. At first, mostly what should would catch them whispering were snippets like _"the blonde," _or _"do you know who-?" _or even a simple _"Forbes?" _

But now, in the evening, she was hearing the same name all around her, again and again. Every time she turned a corner or popped her head into a bar to check it out, she heard it again. A local would duck their head down towards a friend or raise a glass in front of their mouths to whisper about her… and she'd hear the name. It was like a chant following her through the city: _Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus. _

She may have shut her humanity off but she wasn't an idiot. All this buildup was wreaking havoc on her anxiety. Maybe New Orleans was a bad idea. Maybe she would have been better-off going to a completely _new _city if she wanted to get away from her old friends.

_No_, she resolved firmly in her head. Starting off fresh in a new city wasn't ideal, at least not yet. She wasn't going to be an _idiot_ like Elena had been with her humanity off. No, Caroline could control herself thank you very much. If she wanted to kill she wouldn't get caught. But she couldn't be learning the ropes of pure vampirism and relocating all by herself at the same time. This was for the best… what was the worse Klaus could do? He wouldn't even be able to handle her like this; she was like a dog let out of a cage right now. _Totally. _

Caroline was feeling significantly more confident when she finally settled on a bar just outside the French Quarter at a place called d.b.a. There was some _serious _blues pouring out of the place which she could see had a stage inside. Smiling she compelled her way past the bouncer and grabbed herself a German beer from the bar which apparently specialized in what looked like every beer made, ever. Chugging half of it, she danced right into the room with the show, where a trumpet player was tearing apart the fabric of space on a solo.

His solo ended and she clapped and cheered right along with everyone else feeling so _glad _she had decided to come and wondering why she hadn't taken up Klaus on an invitation sooner. This city was absolutely amazing.

The club was full of humans and the thrum of pounding blood was echoing in her ears right along with the occasional whisper. Someone had just started a solo on the French Horn, though, and she let the music carry her back to the bar for another beer instead of luring out a human quite yet. There would be time for that later and, truthfully, the meal she'd made of Liam was still warm in her veins.

"I'll take the Albanian pilsner," Caroline called to the harried bartender who, because she'd earlier compelled him as well, hoped to compliance immediately.

He set out a frosted glass for her on the counter and turned back to grab the beer.

But the moment he turned, the air in the bar seemed to still. Though the music kept playing, it seemed to slow in time along with everything else. The whispers were louder now. Caroline didn't even bother to turn around, she knew what was coming. Although, part of her wondered if she might actually be frozen to the spot. For everything everyone had ever told her about turning off your emotions, no one had ever mentioned a scenario where it felt like their every nerve was on fire with anticipation. She told herself it was her survival instinct prevailing.

"Actually sir," a low, rumbling accented voice said from behind her. "Could we get two glasses of champagne?"

Then he was beside her, looking down at her both cocky and confused. She hadn't known such a combination was possible, not to mention so adorable. He was very close to her, too close.

"I think all they have here is beer," was all that she could think to say.

He let out a rakish smile when two fluted glasses of the bubbling wine were set in front of them.

"Caroline, my dear, it is a surprise to see you here," he responded, offering her a glass which she accepted. They both took a sip and he paused to rove his eyes over her form. "You look… positively _good enough to eat_."

She was shocked at the instantaneous aching _want_ that pooled in her lower abdomen when he said that but she made every effort to appear wholly unaffected. He looked good enough to… well, a lot of things. She refocused, away from his loose grey henley and black dress pants, and regained some control of her shift away from humanity. She felt considerably less anxious now, but she took another sip of her champagne, just to be safe.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" he asked her, sweeping a hand over her shoulder to brush some hair away from her face.

The move almost unsettled her but logically she understood its motivation. He was marking her, albeit very subtly. After seeing Klaus Mikaelson be even _somewhat _affectionate with someone, no one in the city, or likely anywhere right outside of it, would touch her.

But she wouldn't be the only one made to feel off their game in this moment. She knew very well the effect she had on Klaus.

She stepped forward, looking up at him from beneath her lashes and placed her hand demurely against his chest. He was breathing heavily and let out an extended sigh when she touched him.

"Who says I'm here to see you?" she asked, and removed her hand before turning back toward the bar. He let out a low chuckle, sounding somewhat miffed.

"I'll bite," he conceded. "What brings you to the city?"

"I'd really prefer not to talk about it," she responded flatly, swigging down the rest of the champagne and setting down the glass. "Thanks for the drink, it was a _gas _running into you!"

She twirled around and briskly walked in the direction of the door, amidst the noticeable looks of shocked humans and vampires alike.

"_Caroline_," the growl came from behind her within seconds of her exiting the bar. "Do _not_ make me make a _scene_."

"I can't make you do anything honey, it's all up to you how you act!" she trilled.

Before she knew what was happening, his arms were around her in a vice grip and he'd vamp sped her to another part of the city. They were back in what appeared to be the French Quarter but she wasn't sure where. It looked residential, so he probably lived nearby. She couldn't help where her thoughts flew to next…

"I think you'd be surprised at exactly how much _you_ could make me do, Caroline Forbes," he whispered into her ear, his voice still thick. She felt his mouth quirk into a smile against her ear. "I like it when you call me _honey_."

She wrenched herself out of his grasp.

"What's the big idea?" she demanded. "I _said _I wasn't here to see you!"

"Yes but you and I both know you owe me an explanation of _why _you're here then," he demanded. "May I remind you that the _last _time I saw you, you made me promise never to see you again?"

Caroline kept walking, not caring that she didn't know where she was going, figuring that she could compel anyone to take her anywhere when she finally managed to shake Klaus. But, her high heels were killing her _again_ and she slowed to a more comfortable speed. He was still tailing her, step for step, no matter what speed they were at anyway. Caroline rolled her eyes and laughed up at him.

"The last time we hung out? _That's _what you remember?" she laughed, making fun of him.

He allowed the ghost of a smile to grace his features but grew serious again. "I assure you, Caroline… I remember _all _of it _vividly_."

There was the feeling again, that aching pull in her stomach. She wouldn't deny herself forever, she had no reason to care who she slept with these days. But, for the time being, annoying Klaus and getting away with it to the clear chagrin of every other vamp in town, was entertaining her infinitely more.

She smelled someone smoking grass down an alley way. She smiled and turned down the street.

"Hey man," she greeted the bum in the alley, her eyes widening in compulsion, "Let me get a hit of that, okay?"

"Sure, lady," the clearly drunk older man slurred, handing her his joint.

Just as she'd inhaled, a hand clamped roughly around her upper arm and pulled her back to the street, joint still in hand.

"_What_ are you doing?" Klaus hissed at her, staring her down hard.

"Quit harshing my vibe man!" she quipped and took another puff.

Klaus rolled his eyes, "If that's what you wanted, I'm afraid you came to the wrong city darling," he said and kept walking, pulling her along with him but gently.

Instead of responding she blew a couple smoke rings into his face. He rolled his eyes again and kept walking.

"Just finish that _quickly_, will you?" he asked.

"I'll do whatever I goddam please," she muttered, mostly to herself.

"Yes, you clearly think you can, don't you?" he laughed back at her. "But you seem to be coming along fairly willingly now. Someone's moods are awfully capricious tonight."

"It's the grass," she explained. "Chilled me out enough to realize, I just got here and I'd probably be more comfortable crashing for the night in whatever huge mansion you've got set up here than a shoddy hotel I compel my way into."

"Oh, but there are some very nice hotels here that you could compel your way into. The Hotel Monteleone has a spinning cocktail bar that looks like a carousel," he suggested, calling her bluff.

"Yeah but your place is probably closer isn't it?" she asked in her best whiney voice.

Klaus smiled. "Indeed it is. You are, of course, welcome to stay as long as you wish."

"Well _if _you're offering!" she said, laughing. "Just tonight would be _great_, doll."

"As fond as I am of your using pet names with me, darling," he said, linking his arm with hers when she drunkenly stumbled on a cobblestone in her heels, "If you're going to enjoy my hospitality I really must insist… why are you here?"

Caroline still didn't answer. She was just outright ignoring him, so he pushed ahead for her.

"You think I don't have any inkling what's going on?" he demanded, leaning down to whisper harshly in her ear as they passed a group of drunk tourists. "I've known you were here from the moment you set foot into the city. I've been getting updates on you all afternoon. They tell me that you're compelling humans as you see them, taking what you need and paying for nothing. More people have seen you sniffing out humans, looking at all of them like potential prey. They say that you're _clearly _starving."

They were approaching a huge mansion, now. It was surrounded by an iron gate, with an engraved sign marking the home as The Abattoir. Klaus stopped them just short of the gate to keep talking to her, his hands still locked tightly to upper arms like he was afraid she'd run away.

"You've _always _eaten animals, Caroline. None of this sounds like you," he pressed. "You've turned it off, haven't you? Your humanity."

Caroline sighed again, like a petulant little girl, and stared at the ground instead of into his face.

"So what if I have?" she asked, defiantly, eyes blazing. Oh, she definitely wasn't planning to turn it back on any time soon, that was very clear.

He nodded and slowly, almost carefully, let go of her shoulders.

"I just needed to know from you," he said quietly. "I won't make you tell me why."

She looked up at him, not quite believing her luck. If her humanity had still been on, she thought she very well may have been touched. As it was, she was just glad the inquisition had ended.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards his enormous mansion.

"Whatever," she said with a huff, and pushed the gate open herself.

* * *

So he'd been exaggerating when he said he knew _exactly _when Caroline had arrived. When he was first alerted to her presence, no one could say for sure how long she'd been in the city but they suspected only an hour at the most. She still had a suitcase on her.

It was Marcel who had come to him, though he couldn't confirm or deny if it was her. He hadn't even gone to _see _if it were her actually, which greatly perturbed Klaus, even though he knew very well that Marcel had never seen the girl.

He had been painting, a rare moment of relaxation given everything that was happening to threaten Hope. He'd refuse to let his so-called returned sister, Freya, into his home and Elija was still in Algiers with the recent introduction of Jackson into the household. He had a lot to think about and a lot of parts to keep moving in harmony to make sure his daughter remained safe. But for now, it was better if he didn't stew on anxieties he could do nothing to quell.

And then Marcel had shown up.

"Klaus," he called out abruptly, making him very nearly smudge his painting. His shoulders stiffened in anger, ready to snap but Marcel kept going. "There's rumors going around the city. They say your girl is here."

Klaus whirled around, still angry. "My _girl? _What in god's name are you talking about?"

"Caroline Forbes," he said simply and deadly serious. "There are rumors she's in the French Quarter. Several vamps that have passed through Mystic Falls in the past have claimed to recognize her. A couple of wolves too."

"Who is she with? And _where _is she?" Klaus demanded.

"She was last seen leaving Pat O'Brien's and I put the word out to make sure someone keeps following her," Marcel assured him. "But she's alone. Hasn't been seen talking to _any_one except for humans she compels. Apparently she's been using compulsion to get everything in site, isn't even being discreet about it."

Klaus frowned and thought. That didn't sound like Caroline. Of course, being in New Orleans didn't sound like Caroline either so he didn't have a clue what could be going on.

"It has to be a mistake," he told Marcel. "I'm almost sure of it but keep me up to date, just in case."

Marcel nodded, almost surprised that Klaus hadn't acted more decisively — everyone knew how he felt about that girl, even though no one understood how his feelings had become so extreme. Klaus, for his part, couldn't stop thinking on their last encounter. She had only made love with him because he had agreed he would never seek her out again. He'd known they would invariably run into each other again in the future without actively looking for her but he'd never guessed she might look for him. And definitely not so soon. It couldn't be her.

He'd read to Hope after her nap and tried not to think about her. He opted against telling Hayley what he'd heard, considering the bad blood he knew there was between the two of them over that Lockwood boy. The name still made his blood boil. But there was no use getting anyone worked up over nothing, especially himself.

And then Rebecca had shown up.

"Klaus, Caroline is here," Rebecca said. "I just saw her in the French Market."

He'd just settled into a chair with a glass of whiskey to help himself stop thinking but once he heard his sister's words he was bolt upright. His drink sloshed in his hand.

"Are you completely sure?" he asked in an eery state of calm.

"I followed her myself for fifteen minutes before she noticed me," Rebecca confirmed. "Even then she obviously didn't recognize me…" She gestured to the body that was not her own. "Klaus you should have seen her. She's dressed like a prostitute and looking at every other human like she might devour them on the spot. Marcel and I both have eyes on her. Elijah has been alerted too."

Klaus gulped down the rest of his drink in one go and slammed the glass down onto the table, not even noticing when it broke as he began to stride swiftly out of the room.

"I will be leaving shortly to find her," he told Rebecca. "No one is to approach her but she is to be surrounded at all times. I want the city on alert, Marcel better make _damn _sure that any vampire I pass on my way out can tell me where she is."

So he cleaned himself up and went out to round her up in a matter of minutes. People were so curious as to what was actually about to happen, Klaus doubted he needed to tell anyone to keep him updated. Every vamp, and even some wolves, he passed were more than eager to share their knowledge of Caroline's whereabouts. The poor girl certainly didn't have any loyalty here, save himself. And his family, if they knew what was good for them. Still, he knew she must be desperate.

Finally he'd tracked her down to a jazz club just outside the Quarter. He could swear he felt his own blood pounding as he entered the jazz filled bar.

Then there she was, as usual, a splash of light amongst the dark. She was dressed like a mouthwatering strawberry tart, in shorts and a crop top that left very little unexposed. Her hair was in two cheerleader ponytails and he had the sudden desire to grab one of them and hold her down. He had seen men staring at her from all sides when he entered the club, but everyone had backed off as far as possible once his presence was noted.

Within seconds of confronting her, he could see she'd turned her humanity off. There was no sparkle in her eyes, none of the fierce righteousness that made Caroline herself. It broke him to the core and he was shocked by the intensity of the ache he felt for her, the longing to have her back as he remembered. And then a new thought resonated. What had happened to her to make her do this?

Luckily, after serving many years as friends to the one an only _Ripper_, Klaus knew better than anyone how to handle a vampire without their humanity. A first timer would be even easier. He started off slow and appealed to a base instinct: sex.

He'd give her credit, she was good, very in control. It didn't seem like her first time. She was proving to be a handful too, pushing Klaus to the limits of his patience by evading questions simply by pretending to be fun and flighty. It was a good act to anyone but him, he could see how dull her eyes really were.

She had ultimately agreed to spend the night back at The Abattoir, with a surprisingly minimal amount of effort. He knew that this was certainly selfishly motivated but… the idea that Caroline's selfish desires brought her closer to him couldn't be an entirely bad revelation.

"Well," Caroline said as she entered through the door he held open for her. "This is _way _less creepy than your place back in Virginia."

"Thank you, Miss Forbes, for whatever kind of compliment that was," he said, closing the door and stepping up next to her.

"You know, what kind of gentleman are you Klaus?" she asked.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, genuinely perplexed at this turn in the conversation.

"I've been carrying my own luggage all the way around the city. You're a terrible host," she insisted without a trace of irony on her face.

If any part of him wanted to be mad, it simply wouldn't come out. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so truly glad to see her, no matter the circumstances… and perhaps it was because having her humanity turned off apparently turned Caroline Forbes into a caricature of spoiledness. He did his best not to laugh knowing that, no doubt, at some point soon in the future these petulant demands would not seem so funny.

"You're right, of course," he said dutifully and took the tiny pink suitcase from her hand. "Let me show you to a guest room."

"Klaus?" a voice rang out from the room beside them. "What is _she _doing here?"

Caroline's face transformed into the portrait of rage at the sight of Hayley. Jackson was next to his new wife holding Hope in his arms but Caroline clearly did not notice either of them.

"Oh, you picked the _perfect _day to run into me, _bitch_," Caroline hissed while elongating her fangs.

Before Klaus could drop the pink suitcase to reach out a hand to stop her, Caroline had launched herself at Hayley.

* * *

**Hey guys, hoped you enjoyed that! I've had this seedling ever since we learned that Caroline would be turning off her humanity. I like where the show is taking this but… it makes more sense to me that a humanity-less Caroline would seek out both a city of debauchery like New Orleans AND Klaus rather than stay anywhere near her old group of friends if she really planned to keep her humanity off. So that's the direction I'm taking this. I plan to loosely follow the upcoming episodes of The Originals, if it fits in with what I have planned. If not, we'll go a bit AU. I'll always alert at the start of a chapter if there are spoilers. **

**Another note, this story will have lemons. They may pop up as early as next chapter. So either next chapter or the following, this story will be bumped up to M and stay that way. So, please add me to your alerts if you'd like to see the next chapter, which should be up shortly! Would love to hear your thoughts. **


	2. Wading into Styx

_**Wading into Styx**_

_**2**_

Klaus had never seen Caroline attack with such a fury, not for her own benefit or even her friends. She was a woman unhinged, clawing at Hayley almost as intensely as she was trying to bite the woman. Hayley, still in a relatively sane state of mind, was only working on getting Caroline off. She had her arms up desperately trying to block her face. With hybrid blood now in her system she knew Klaus would be _pissed _if she bit his favorite little plaything, even if he could revive her right away.

Still, Caroline was insane for the moment, clearly having _fun _with the whole thing. Her crazy smile broadened as she managed a particularly deep gash in the woman's flailing arms, blood spilling out onto Hayley's shirt.

"Get that psycho bitch off of her!" Jackson screamed at Klaus. He was still holding Hope and couldn't do anything to help his wife.

Almost as soon as it had started Klaus had wrenched Caroline off of Hayley and was holding the flailing blonde vampire back.

"Caroline, _calm down_," he insisted and, surprisingly, she did though still breathing heavily. She was already shrugging it off, as if nothing had even happened, a weird smile on her face.

Hayley pulled herself up from the ground, spitting blood out of her mouth onto the marble floors in a rather undignified fashion. In the haze of her anger she began sniffing the air and then pointed to the ground as if scandalized.

"Did you bring her in here smoking _drugs_?" Hayley demanded pointing to Caroline's fallen joint as if this offense was more egregious than the fight itself.

"Really, Hayley, it's not like she came in shooting up heroin!" Klaus said.

"Right, she just came in here ready to kill the mother of your daughter!" Jackson yelled, assertively pulling Hayley back to his side to inspect her scratched but rapidly healing face while both of them kept sending calculating glares back to Klaus and Caroline.

Caroline, for her part, was laughing her ass off and relighting her joint. She did not look like she noticed in the slightest that she had just learned Klaus had a daughter with Hayley.

"Seriously?!" Hayley shrieked as Jackson moved Hope away from Caroline. "Klaus you aren't really going to let her stay here are you?"

Klaus looked over to Caroline who was still smoking and merely offered him a completely nonplussed shrug. He thought about telling Hayley that Caroline only planned to stay for one night but realized that he himself had not intended to let her stay be so short.

He sighed heavily. "Yes, I intend to let her stay here," Klaus answered finally.

Caroline let out a snort of laughter before coughing and choking on smoke, still totally unfazed by what any of them may have thought of her.

"I have no idea what you see in her," Hayley spat at him. "Until you come to your senses, Hope and I are staying with my pack."

Hayley flounced up the stairs with Hope after taking her from Jackson, presumably to gather some things. Jackson remained, staring unflinchingly hard at Klaus.

"You're not even objecting?" he asked. "To your own daughter leaving? This whore of yours _must _be a piece of work. And after all that talk about doing _anything _to protect Hope."

He tried to brush past Klaus but Klaus caught him by his upper arm in a death grip. He let his vampire face show itself in his rage.

"Don't you _ever _presume to understand what I deem is safe for my daughter. You are _not_ her father," he said. "And if you ever call Caroline a whore again, I'll let her cut your throat out myself." He finally let the man go, eyeing him dominantly.

Jackson scoffed as he followed Hayley up the stairs.

Klaus, without a second look back to Caroline, wandered into the downstairs living room Hayley had just come from and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Caroline followed him with a bored and blank expression on her face, stubbing her joint out finally on the floor beneath her sandal. He poured her a glass too.

She took an unceremonious swig before reclaiming her suitcase and plopping it onto the couch next to her. Upstairs Hayley and Jackson were clomping around, making it difficult to engage in any sort of conversation. Fortunately, they were down with just a couple of bags, and Hayley in new clean clothes, in a few minutes glaring at both of them as they made their way out the door slamming it behind them.

Caroline didn't bother to question why Klaus didn't ask the specifics of where they were going. He'd be able to find anyone in this city and likely anywhere in the world. He'd always found Katherine, hadn't he? Hayley had been living with him for god knew how long; she was probably smart enough to check in at this point.

"What do you even keep in that thing?" Klaus questioned affably, apparently in a better mood now that the drama had left the building. He gestured towards her small pink case. "It's so tiny."

"Mostly underwear," she said. "Some weapons. Various ID's and cash. Oh and makeup, obviously."

"What were you going to do about clothes?" he asked.

"Figure it out as I went along," she said with a flippant sigh, taking another large sip of her whiskey. "So, you're a father now. You always _did _strike me as an oddly paternal type."

Something about the way she said it. He had to suppress a lust-filled growl in his throat.

"Jealous, Caroline?"

"Ha!" she laughed, throwing her head back. He watched her golden hair spill across her back while she laughed at him without humor. "Seriously? I have zero shits to give, Klaus. But I think _someone _wants me to be jealous…"

His eyes flashed dangerously. She noticed.

"Because you lo-o-ove me, right?" she laughed. "You even let your baby mama take the baby out of the house for me."

For the second time that day he broke a glass. He leapt up and had her pinned to the couch in half a second. He had genuinely lashed out in anger, but her response was so immediately wanton, his initial anger was forgotten without question.

With a soft _hmm_ she arched her back, pushing her chest into his. The hands he had been using to pin her forearms into the sofa released her to cradle her back and she slid her arms up to his shoulders and then looped him around his neck. She was positioning them so their lips were growing closer and he could see just the tips of her fangs showing in her ready smile.

She'd never had this easy of a time of seducing him before, back when she was the pawn on her friends' little distraction plans. But now he'd had a taste of her… all those months ago in the woods. And he could never go back to _not knowing _what it was like to have her. He'd tasted the forbidden fruit and here she was, willingly offering herself.

He pulled back from her abruptly, dropping her a few inches onto the couch and reclined back to his leather chair across the room. She started laughing again. Suddenly another joint appeared in her hand from nowhere and she was lighting it again.

"Did you _really _just end that?" she asked him, appalled.

"I don't trust you, Caroline Forbes," he said simply. "Not without your humanity on. That is why I allowed Hope to leave."

"Sure, fine," she said crossing to his side of the room and draping herself over top of him in his leather chair. "Hope is a shitty name by the way. Very Bible Studies. Anyway, I understand the new paternal instincts but this is just sex!" She was straddling him and Klaus could feel himself already giving in. He ignored her insult and breathed in the smell of her and smoke.

"Where did you get that?" he asked her, almost indulgently, sliding his hands to cup beneath her and inclining his head to her second joint. _Damn, her shorts are short. _

She shrugged her shoulders at him with a wry smile. "Who knows? I'm pretty sneaky these days. Even _I _don't know what I'm planning next."

_I'll say_, he thought to himself. She finished an inhale and he abruptly grasped her chin, pulling her towards him and taking both a kiss and the smoke from her lungs.

It was just as good as he remembered. She was soft and warm and she just _fit_. He parted from her, blowing the smoke he'd stolen back out at her. She cocked her head and clucked her tongue at him appreciatively.

"Oh you think you're _so _smooth?" she asked him.

He laughed, pressing one of his hands into the small of her back to make him lean closer into him. "Darling, I'm over 1,000 years old. I know every trick. I _know _I'm smooth."

Using vamp speed without her expecting it, he flipped them so he was on top of her in the large chair. He grabbed her hips this time when he pressed his lips to hers again, reveling in the responding sounds he was provoking. Trailing his hands slowly up her ribs while he kissed her, he stopped to hold her just below the cut off of her crop top. He left her lips to kiss her once, softly at her collarbone and Caroline outright ground her hips into his own.

He could feel the veins darkening beneath his eyes, could feel his pupils dilate as his wolf instincts took over but, despite the physical response, one thing remained clear to him.

_This wasn't really _her. _This wasn't _Caroline. He wanted all of her. He'd had that before and it could be nothing less again.

He released her and stood up abruptly, smoothing back his hair as he paced around the room.

"Are you _kidding _me?!" Caroline shrieked at him.

"Not tonight, Caroline. There's simply too much going on," he dismissed her and she swallowed an angry growl in her own throat.

If there was one thing she had counted on almost as soon as she had arrived in New Orleans, it was the best sex of her life.

"_You're _the one who keeps jumping _me_, buddy! My humanity is _off_ and I have certain urges that are stronger than usual, Klaus!" she insisted.

"Yes, and whose fault is that?" he returned acerbically.

Her brows furrowed in annoyance. "Well I can always find someone out here to get me off. This town is full of cute college guys," she said, standing and heading towards his door.

He was at the door before she'd even crossed half the distance. "I wouldn't do that if I were you love," he warned. "I've welcomed you into my home, no questions asked. I had my family vacate for you. You will be, at least, a _decent _guest."

Caroline felt like, for the first time, she had truly come face to face with Klaus under dangerous circumstances. His eyes flashed at her darkly. He looked about ready to slap her, though she very sincerely doubted he ever would. Still, she didn't want to push her luck with an Original — even without her humanity Caroline knew when to rollover and play dead.

She put up her hands in a motion of surrender, "Alright, you _win_," she said, bitterly.

From Klaus' direction a phone beeped. Klaus pulled his cell from his pocket and scrolled to open a text message. He read it before smirking and glancing up to Caroline.

"Everyone is talking about how you look at humans now that your humanity is off," Klaus said. "Elijah and Rebekah have offered to bring someone over." He let the invitation dangle.

"Hell yeah, they should," she answered without question. All this drama had really worked up an appetite.

"Are you going to start behaving more appropriately?" he asked.

She sighed and tapped her foot impatiently, thinking on it. "For as long as I'm staying here," she offered. "I'll make every effort."

"I expect that's about as good as I am liable to get from you right now," he acknowledged and began to text one of his siblings back.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Elijah and the young African American witch Caroline had seen earlier at the French Market were at the door with half a dozen calm and complacent looking humans.

"Caroline, this is Rebekah… she's temporarily stuck in the body of a local witch, long story," Elijah explained as they all walked through the front door, ushering the humans into the dining room a few rooms away.

"And our guests are pets of Marcel's from around the city," the new version of Rebekah explained. Caroline didn't bother to ask what constituted _"pets" _down here, truthfully she didn't care and their "guests" look nonplussed at the term anyway.

"So you can't drain them," Klaus warned her. "We may have to stop her."

Caroline rolled her eyes at his aside to his siblings and looked her options up and down. Among them she found a large, strapping young boy who didn't look _unlike _Matt. She smiled and beckoned for him to come closer, taking her time smelling around his neck. Over his shoulders she could see Klaus narrowing his eyes. He would know _exactly _why she'd picked this one, she was sure.

She let her fangs descend and she lowered herself onto his neck as cleanly as possible. She had promised to be a _decent _guest after all. She drank deeply, surprised at exactly how much she needed more, fresh from the source since draining Liam. This was entirely unlike animal blood. It made Caroline _feel _everything more intensely.

But trying to be decent was harder than expected when a vampire had their humanity off. It had been one thing, back in Virginia when she had to look out for herself, not to drain someone completely…. but here? What was the worst that could happen? Klaus would figure out a way around the repercussions for her. With renewed fervor, she sank her fangs in deeper, shaking her head like a mad dog just a bit to _really _enjoy it. Like gnawing on a good steak bone.

After what felt like mere moments, Klaus was pulling her off of the boy who was stumbling into Elijah's open arms, woozy. Caroline didn't hesitate, dragging a young redhead over to her, the poor girl's eyes wide with fear after watching her friend. Caroline bit without a second thought and she heard Klaus compel the girl to relax and not worry. _Christ_, when had he turned into such a softy? Perhaps it was fatherhood.

She was able to pull herself off this time, while the girl was still relatively intact. Caroline had so rarely drunk human blood straight from the source before that she honestly felt a little drunk from the rush.

"Oh that was _fantastic!" _Caroline said, falling back onto the couch in the living room, not bothering to wipe off the dregs of blood that were dripping down her lips and chin onto her neck.

"This is a ridiculous display, Caroline," Rebekah cajoled noncommittally.

"Be patient Becca," Elijah intervened. "She used to be an animal drinker."

"And it's her first time with her humanity off," Klaus said. He dropped one of the woozy humans on a couch next to him, his lips glistening with blood. God he looked good like that, so Caroline tried not to look at him.

Caroline rolled her eyes at the excuses they were making for her. Leave it the Originals to make you feel like a little kid. They _were _all old as sin. _Definitely old as sin_, Caroline thought when she chanced a glance over to Klause again. He was also still covered in blood. The remaining humans were all sitting around uncomfortable, not sure what to do next while their friends recovered.

"Well hats off to you for picking the right place to ride it out," Rebekah said. "I can't even _imagine _trying to turn off the switch with those holier-than-thou friends of yours up north, St. Salvatores and Mother Elena."

Caroline let loose a real, honest to goodness laugh, shocking even herself.

"Caroline, darling, it is late and you've quite worn us all out today," Klaus said. "Please let me show you to your room."

Caroline was delirious with sleepy blood-satiated contentedness. Underneath her steely resolve against the greater pains in her life, she couldn't help but feel simply _good _for the time being. This was what she had always imagined it to be like… when she watched Stefan and Elena turn it off.

"Alright," she said without reservation and made a motion to sit up and grasp her suitcase but Klaus was already picking it up giving her a mocking smile. She didn't even care.

"Thanks for dinner," she said to Rebekah and Elijah, well aware that she was being gauche. Rebekah wrinkled her nose distastefully but Elijah laughed and waved them off.

The room Klaus led her to was enormous and had curtains billowing over an open window that overlooked a patio veranda in the middle of the compound. Caroline rushed over to look out at the scene and the fountain lit by twinkling lights. He really did have a beautiful home here.

Klaus appeared beside her and he pointed to windows across the veranda.

"Those are my quarters," he told her. "Should you need anything."

"Hmm, like what?" she asked. He hadn't seemed too keen earlier.

"Nothing like _that_, I'm afraid. As much as it pains me to say," he replied and turned to make his way to her door.

She followed softly behind him and when he turned to look at her one last time, she leaned up to kiss him briefly.

He blinked in surprise when she parted from him, and he looked down at her waiting for her to say something. She didn't, except:

"Well…" she said, expectantly and gestured towards her open door.

He chuckled and shook his head in confusion, "Goodnight, Caroline."

She closed the door softly behind him and leaned her head against its solid frame, listening to his footsteps fall away, their sound mingling with the thudding of her own heart.

She still couldn't believe he wasn't going to sleep with her. If this continued, she really _would _compel her way into a rich tourist's hotel bed.

Back downstairs, Klaus settled solidly into the couch Caroline had earlier appropriated and faced his siblings. They'd asked the pets to leave and now it was just the three of them.

"What the bloody hell is happening Klaus?" Elijah demanded. "Where on Earth have Hayley and your daughter gone?"

"Hayley hightailed it back to her pack as soon as she saw Caroline," Klaus sighed.

"Well that sounds a bit rash, didn't you try to stop her?" Rebekah asked.

"Well…" Klaus sighed. "She made this decision after Caroline spontaneously attacked her and then laughed about it."

"For no reason?" Elijah asked.

"Other than the fact that she dislikes her? No," Klaus answered.

"And then she laughed about it?" Rebekah clarified, laughing herself.

"And then started smoking a joint," Klaus finished.

Even Elijah sputtered out a laugh at that.

"So, _do _you know whats going on?" Elijah asked.

"Only that she's turned her humanity off, not why," he said. "If we still have sources up north, I'd be very interested to find out."

"Oh, I'm sure that'll be easy to manage," Rebekah said. "Well I'm off to Marcel's."

Klaus raised his eyebrows but did not push. They weren't demanding any conclusions from him about what was to be done about Caroline, so he wouldn't demand any explanations from them for the time being.

"I'll stay the night here if you don't mind," Elijah said. "Hayley and Jackson are out of the house. It's easier than going all the way back to Algiers."

"Of course," Klaus said. He turned to Rebekah. "Tomorrow then, I hope you'll have found something out."

"_Do _try to sound more threatening when someone's doing you a favor brother, really," Rebekah chastised and briskly walked out the door without any further goodbyes.

"She's certainly always in a rush these day," Elijah commented.

"Must be something about not being in your own body," Klaus laughed. Having Caroline around, no matter the circumstances, apparently had him in an uncharacteristically good mood.

All the same, he treated himself to a final glass of whiskey, after Elijah had already head off to bed ahead of him.

* * *

The next morning when Klaus rose, he listened. From what he could tell, no one else had woken. He softly made his way to his window and looked out onto the sunny veranda. The windows to Caroline's room were open and he could see she was stirring in her bed.

He rushed to dress ahead of her and arrived outside her door, right as she was opening it and walking into the hall with nothing but her underwear on, a demi bra and set of tiny boy-shorts.

"Caroline!" he called after her and she turned around. Klaus had a pile of clothes in his hands. "I, um, realized you didn't have anything but apparently you didn't care?" he asked, not bothering to hold back a laugh.

She didn't flinch. "I was _just _going to get coffee," she said.

He forced the clothes into her hands with a cheeky grin. "Get dressed," he ordered. "We'll have coffee and breakfast in the courtyard.

Descending the stairs, he was pleased to see the compelled help had already laid out coffee, tea, and pastries on a table with an umbrella covering.

"Caroline's on her way down," Elijah commented as he entered the courtyard a few minutes after Klaus. "Do you really think it's wise to let her borrow Hayley's clothes?"

"Please, like I could let her roam New Orleans in those scraps she was wearing last night," he scoffed, taking a sip from some freshly brewed coffee. "I'll take her to buy new things today."

Elijah looked skeptical but he took a seat across from Klaus and poured himself some coffee.

Shortly thereafter, Caroline appeared in some skinny jeans, rolled up several inches and worn with a belt as Hayley was so much taller. Over her jeans were white ankle boots that matched the flowing silk white shirt paired with everything. Today, Caroline had her hair down and she looked far more the elegant woman… even with a cigarette in her hand.

"These don't really fit me," she commented as she entered the courtyard.

"I'm taking you to get new clothes today," Klaus said.

Caroline rolled her eyes. _"Fun_. How am I supposed to wear jeans in this weather?" she asked. "It's hot as sin."

Klaus smirked at her. "You can't wear shorts, darling, you'll look like a tourist."

Caroline frowned but poured herself some orange juice followed by a hefty shot of vodka.

"This early in the morning, dear?" Elijah asked her, pleasantly.

"Um, hello," she said, pointing to her plate. "I'm having a croissant with it."

"Are you _really _smoking cigarettes now?" Klaus asked, not bothering to hide his distaste.

"Um, so you're fine with grass but not good old fashioned tobacco?" she returned.

"Like any other normal living being on this planet, yes," he replied.

"Hmm, normal and living are not the first two words I would have picked to describe you," she deadpanned before puffing on her cigarette again. "Besides it's not like I can get cancer you doof."

Neither brother could hide their smile at Klaus being called, of all things, a _doof_. But they let it slide without comment.

"Well it's _most _unbecoming," Elijah said, agreeing with his brother. "They're a most unsavory habit."

"Whatever," she replied breezily. It appeared to be how she prefered to end most conversations these days.

* * *

The three of them were barely out of the door when they ran into Hayley. Elijah shot Klaus a look and he genuinely felt anxious about what was about to transpire.

"Klaus! Why is she wearing _my _clothes?!" Hayley demanded.

"Oh, man! I _knew _I hated these clothes. No wonder they're so big!" Caroline said, letting out a hoot of laughter.

"Don't exaggerate blondie, now get out of my clothes!"

"No problem!" Caroline called as she headed back inside and upstairs towards the guest bedroom. Once she'd passed beyond their sight she called out, "But I'm keeping the shoes!"

Her door slammed loudly. "You're _not_ keeping the shoes! Caroline!" Hayley shrieked after her before making a beeline towards the stairs.

Klaus groaned in concern, _"Caroline!" _and rushed back inside to break up any potential physical altercation. "Hayley, she can'twear _those_ clothes again."

"Um, apparently she can, Klaus. She picked them out herself and she's a grown-ass woman," Hayley insisted, waiting outside the room to get her clothes back.

"I'd prefer to wear my things again too, wolf-bitch, you have terrible, bland taste," Caroline called from the other side of the door.

"See?" Hayley said, gesturing towards the door in triumph. There was no way around it, Hayley would not be lending any help.

* * *

Klaus was more than perturbed to have Caroline back in the clothes she'd worn the day before. It was less about other men. Anyone smart in this city knew better than to look at a woman Klaus Mikaelson was with. No, it was more that Caroline in such clothing had no idea how truly bewitching she was. He pulled her into the first boutique they came across in the Quarter.

Caroline had stuck her nose up at almost everything they'd had to show her but eventually he'd gotten her to trade in her outfit for a more modest sundress, upon her insistence that it was "just until" she found "something better." Unfortunately, in the dress she was the picture of doe-eyed innocence, and he wasn't finding it any easier to keep himself collected around her.

She'd insisted they stop for beignets and didn't care when Klaus laughed at the confectioners sugar absolutely flying everywhere after her first messy bite. In fact, she'd taken a rather whimsical turn and chosen to twirl around in it like falling snow, not caring when it dusted her hair. He'd wanted to kiss her then but he got the feeling she knew what she was doing. Caroline was playing the siren without her humanity.

Then they'd sat down for lunch at Cochon, one of the best restaurants in the world. Caroline had her head buried in the menu, after already ordering two rounds of drinks. She had no qualms about him spending on her, apparently. His phone rang and he checked the ID, it was Rebekah so he stood, giving Caroline a one-minute gesture before stepping outside.

"Rebekah, have you found anything?" he asked her immediately.

"Sheriff Forbes is dead," she answered immediately. "Her mother died of cancer, just a few days ago."

Klaus glanced back inside the restaurant where Caroline was facing away from him, her head boredly propped in one hand, clacking her nails against the table.

"No wonder she didn't want to say anything," Klaus said, more to himself.

"Klaus, there's something else," Rebekah said. Klaus waited. "Someone overheard her speaking with Stefan Salvatore at her mother's wake. We got this from a compelled human. He said it sounded like something had gone on between them, maybe romantic. Caroline wanted to talk about it but Stefan had told her the timing was inappropriate."

Klaus felt sucker punched. _The Ripper? _Hid old friend. He couldn't even take a small amount of solace from the fact that Rebekah sounded a touch hurt herself.

"Thank you, sister. You've been helpful," he said.

"I'll see you later. Be careful, Klaus," she said and hung up.

Klaus made his way back into the restaurant right as the waiter deposited some fried alligator in front of them. Caroline happily snapped up a piece, no questions asked. Klaus didn't know where to begin.

"Who was that?" Caroline asked, sensing the shift in the air and finding it more wearisome than anything else.

"It was Rebekah," Klaus answered levely, "She had some information for me. She told me… about your mother. Caroline, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I was not there."

Caroline narrowed her eyes. "You _said _you would stay out of that!"

"I _said_ I wouldn't _ask_ you about it. If a third party offers me information, I am under no obligation to ignore it," he said.

"Fine, so you know. You just reiterated that you wouldn't _ask _me about it, so let's leave it there," she said.

"Was Stefan Salvatore one of the reasons you turned off your humanity or not Caroline? Yes or no?" he demanded.

She all but snarled at him. "What did you _just _say to me, Klaus? Just because I spent _one freaking night _at your place doesn't make you privy to my life! I don't owe you _anything_," she spat and was up and out the restaurant in the same breath.

Klaus let her go, knowing she'd never get far in _his _city and feeling too angry and hurt to follow her now anyway. She'd all but confirmed for him by refusing to answer.

* * *

But three hours later she hadn't come back and they hadn't seen a sign of her. It was like she had vanished the moment she'd left the restaurant.

Klaus was practically crawling the walls of his home trying to decide what to do. Around him, Marcel was looking more than uncomfortable and Elijah and Rebekah were trying to keep everyone calm. Scattered around the compound were other vampires working for Marcel, waiting for orders; dozens more were tearing through the streets.

Even an _extremely _begrudging Hayley had been enlisted to volunteer a small handful of her pack to sniff Caroline out — _"Only because I don't trust her out there, knowing about Hope," _she'd explained. Klaus found the idea that a humanity-less Caroline would give one fig about Hope patently absurd, but he could use the wolves' tracking ability no matter the circumstance of their orders.

"Klaus, you need to _calm down,_" Rebekah ordered. "She hasn't even been gone that long." He'd just overturned one of his own bookshelves when a vamp reporting to Marcel had come back with the news that she wasn't anywhere they could find in the Quarter or on Tulane's campus. After all her talk about shagging college boys the previous evening, he'd had a hunch she might try to sneak up there.

"She should have known that if she _ever_ came to me, with her humanity or not, that I would not let her go," Klaus railed. "She was _foolish_."

Marcel's phone rang and he picked up before the sound stopped, "What do you have?" he asked. He looked up towards Klaus. "They think they've got a lead. A couple of murders outside Atlanta… sounds like pretty gruesome stuff."

Elijah swore and answered Marcel for him. "Get her back here, _now._"

"Atlanta? How the hell did she get up there so fast without a _single _vampire or wolf in New Orleans stopping her?" Klaus demanded. "Even the witches here should have known better!"

"We can't just go _get _her," Marcel stated, answering Elijah after jotting down a few notes and clicking his cell shut. "They don't know where she is in Atlanta or even if she's still there. They just found two bodies with their blood drained and their eyes gouged out. Whoever fed off of the bodies made a mess of their necks. We'll have to go up there and track her."

"Klaus, maybe you shouldn't-" Rebekah started.

"Shouldn't _what?" _he snapped harshly.

"Shouldn't go with them right away. You're enraged, you'll scare her off," she suggested.

"Rebekah, if you know what's good for you, you'll shut the hell up this second," Elijah warned much more eloquently than Klaus would have for himself.

"Let's move," Klaus ordered. "We'll take a dozen vampires with us and a couple of the wolves Hayley has stationed outside right now. Someone put out the word to stay alert here. If she comes back, I want to know _immediately._"

Klaus threw on a leather jacket and was out the door before either Elijah or Rebekah could collect themselves. Hurriedly, and with furtive glances towards each other, they followed their brother out of the house.

* * *

**You didn't think she'd stick around for very long, did you? Her humanity is off, she's a loose cannon! **

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! A big shout out to all you guys; the positive response from you all really boosted me and made me want to get this chapter out quicker. Chapter 3 is also underway but I always edit quicker when I've got reviews fueling me ;) **

_**Kat**_** \- As a fan / viewer I'm somewhat anti-Hayley but I'm pro-Hayley as a writer. I don't like writing pointless drama for the sake of making another female character look foolishly bad. So I will be writing her as realistically as possible. I can see and understand why both she and Caroline dislike each other and I plan to basically explore that as a bad clash of personalities. So sometimes they'll both be right and sometimes they'll both act like idiots. Anyone else, if you have questions, I will always answer them if I feel that they don't give anything too important away. **

**Also, as you may have noticed. Not rated M yet. There may or may not be a direct correlation between the number of followers on this story and when the rating finally goes up for a lemon. :D Can't wait to hear your thoughts on how it's progressing. **


	3. Welcome to the Underworld

**Author's note: **Huge thanks as always to everyone who reviewed, faved, or followed! I'm actually always excited to update this story because of you guys.

* * *

_**Welcome to the Underworld**_

_**3**_

The scent of Atlanta was laced with Caroline. She was definitely still here. Klaus could smell her everywhere. And after compelling a few humans and flashing Caroline's picture, they were shortly headed to downtown towards a hotel called The Loews.

He doubted she would have stayed under her real name, but she probably wasn't trying to hide too hard. _Definitely wasn't_, he considered, not with the way she'd left her scent all through the city like this, probably feeding from people and covering it up every few feet. He compelled the concierge to let him see a guest log and he spied where she was quickly: _Pussy Galore, The Penthouse. _

Klaus was still in a rage but Marcel couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw over his friend's shoulder.

"I can see why you like her, man!" Marcel laughed. "_That's _funny. A Bond fan and everything!"

"There is _nothing _funny about the situation we are in right now," he spat, turning on his heel and pressing the up button on the elevator far more times than was conceivably necessary. It arrived a second later and Klaus forced his way in, shoving aside some startled exiting tourists.

On the top floor, before the elevator doors even opened, they heard the music blasting. He'd come up only with Marcel, Elijah, and Rebekah. Rebekah had been a last second choice, wondering if perhaps he might need a woman's mind in this endeavor. Caroline was proving to be quite difficult to manage like this. The rest of the hotel's floors were all being covered, just in case she made any move to evade them again.

The doors opened and they were assaulted by the music: a strong 60s bassline with some psychedelic piano and guitar. The lyrics started and he recognized it immediately as _Sunshine Superman _by Donovan.

"_Sunshine came softly through my window today…" _

Klaus had no idea Caroline even listened to music like this — she'd always struck him as more of a country and Beyonce-type girl. The more he saw of her without her humanity, the less he realized he knew about her. Seeing a vampire at their worst was very much like seeing the most intimate recesses of their soul, if you were diligent enough.

"_It'll take time I know it but, in awhile, you're gonna be mine I know it, we'll do it in style…" _

The ridiculously cheery tune was a sour clash with the anger coursing through him. His three companions were clearly on edge around him like this. The Penthouse had the floor to itself and her door was the only one present down a long corridor from the elevator. He didn't knock or hesitate. He just broke the door down with an infuriated kick.

"Well, _that _hardly seemed necessary," Rebekah commented from behind him as they all followed him into the room.

Caroline was dancing on top of the dead, _literally. _All the windows in the room were wide open as the blonde bounced up and down on the hotel's bed, two lifeless, eyeless, and bloodied male bodies bouncing along with her. One of their eyes I had rolled to the foot of the bed and another was resting on the bedside table that Caroline had appropriated as an ashtray. She was barely clothed, again, in her underwear with one of the men's collared shirts resting unbuttoned on her shoulders. She had the top sheet of the bed in her hands, waving it around her as she moved, allowing it to billow out like a dancers ribbon around her. She had a joint hanging out the side of her bloodied mouth and a half empty bottle of champagne was resting on the bedside table, amongst the ashes and the eye, next to her.

"Well, hey there Pussy!" Marcel called out from behind him and was quickly silenced by a vicious glare from Klaus.

When she saw him, she didn't falter or get embarrassed. She merely hopped off the bed, dancing like she was in Pulp Fiction, trailing her fingers in a peace symbol across her eyes, and started sashaying towards him while softly accompanying the music:

"_Cause I've made my mind up, you're going to be mine." _

Oh, she knew what she was doing. She twirled around to turn the sound down with a remote that had fallen to the floor and faced him, still swaying to the lowered music.

"_There_ you are! What _took _you so long?" she demanded.

He was absolutely flabbergasted, a sensation that only eased up to be replaced again by rage and jealousy when he spied the unclothed and bloodied men left in Caroline's bed. Without thinking, he lunged at them, his wolf senses kicking in. He could smell her _all over _their bodies. In a fit, a strangled growl escaped his throat, and his fangs descended as he began ripping their lifeless bodies needlessly apart with his bare hands.

Caroline watched from the side with a minimal amount of interest.

"Um, news flash stud, they're already dead," she commented.

He looked up, still infuriated. He turned towards his siblings and Marcel.

"Round up everyone and go home. Leave a few people to stay behind and clean _this _up," he said, looking towards the bloody , eyeless pile beneath him. "Compel everyone in the hotel if you have to. We'll meet you back home later."

His siblings and Marcel nodded dutifully, but clearly put out about the day's needless goose chase, and left the room. Rebekah had a disgusted scowl on her face, her time wasted. Marcel looked genuinely perplexed over what Klaus was willing to put up with for this girl. Only Elijah's eyes flashed a sense of amusement. He could see exactly how much this new version of Caroline was getting to his typically unflappable and unforgiving brother; he even thought it might be good for Klaus. New Orleans had not been kind to Klaus since he returned and he'd built up a tough emotional shell that Elijah was worried would one day send Klaus off the deep end. And despite his understanding of Klaus's anger, he couldn't help but notice that the unpredictable actions of a switched-off Caroline were _exactly _everything his brother had ever professed to want from a woman before.

"I can't _believe _this," Rebekah fumed. She shot a look to Caroline before they exited. "This is the _only _time I will ever be looking out for you again, do you understand? So you'd better tread wisely."

Klaus could see that Caroline didn't believe a word of it and truthfully he didn't either. When push came to shove, Rebekah always came through for her family and that included Klaus. Not to mention, he'd rarely had a hard time manipulating her to do anything in the last millennia.

Once their group had exited, Klaus whirled on the still dancing Caroline.

"Where the hell have you been?" he growled at her, stalking over to her only to pace around her like a predator. She wasn't perturbed.

"Uh, maybe escaping from this apparent kidnapping fest?" she deadpanned. "Since when did my visit become both mandatory and permanent?"

Klaus balked at her, unbelieving her gall . "That's not the _point!" _he insisted. "You can leave but not just out of the blue, that was one of the conditions of my hosting you… that you'd be a decent guest. _Decent_ does not include disappearing without a word!" Not that she _could _really leave, of course, but if she didn't think she was on lockdown she'd have no need to run.

"Oh, so just because I broke the _'decent guest' _clause, that gives you the right to totally wig out on me and go secret service on my ass?" she yelled right back. "Not to mention, said 'decent' clause was contingent upon _your _promise not to harass me about why I'd turned off my humanity!"

Klaus actually had to pause at this one. Something about Caroline without her humanity had made her even quicker than she was before. She was like a lawyer now. He made a motion to respond but she stopped him by putting her hand up while she took a slow last puff of a joint, stubbing it out, and immediately lighting a cigarette in its stead.

"Look, I'm glad you came to get me," she said. "I didn't really want to ride that smelly old bus all the way to Atlanta and then back. I just needed to blow off some steam."

He smiled down at her, everything forgiven the moment she'd admitted she was actually _glad_ to see him, unable to help the adoration he felt. He wasn't a fool, it was clearly a bid to get herself out of trouble but he honestly couldn't stop the flood of his reaction when she's said that. Even like this, she constantly projected an easy Holly Golightly-element about her.

And she hadn't really made it _difficult_ to find her. Given the ease of her slipping from NOLA without notice, he knew she could have.

"We heard there were several murders where the victims had their eyes gouged out," he commented, looking towards the eyeless men left in her bed. "What was that about?"

"Everything is scarier in the dark," she replied in a sing-song voice. Klaus felt a smirk appear; even if she was trouble like this, he did enjoy this new wicked side. "So, am I forgiven?" she asked, looking up at him with a sensual pout.

She thought she had his answer locked down but, he threw her a curveball.

"Well?" he asked her, "_Did _you leave Virginia and turn off your humanity because of Stefan Salvatore?"

Caroline scowled.

"I _don't _want to talk about why I left or why I shut it off!" she screamed at him. "Can't you just be satisfied that I'm here now?"

"You _left!" _he insisted.

"Only because you didn't respect the _one_ rule I had for my staying!"

Klaus sighed wearily and rubbed his temples. "Caroline, if you remember it was _you _that came to me!"

"Well, to your city," she cut in, knowing she was being pedantic by trying to continue any charade suggesting she hadn't come for him.

He rolled his eyes and ignored the interruption. "I don't have time to be running after you right now. I just finished off a fight with my most troubling sibling, another sister has come back from the dead, my daughter's life is constantly in peril… And to top it all off, Kol is dead thanks to our brother Finn and no one has any idea how to bring him back!" Klaus finished in a huff.

Caroline, who had sat back down on her bloodied bed, leaned her head on her fist thoughtfully and looked Klaus fully in the eyes. Her face and tone serious, she said, "You are concerned about him."

"As unlikely as it may seem, yes. I _am _concerned about Kol," he confided.

"You believe his health might be at stake," she continued.

He quirked his head, confused. "He's _dead_, Caroline. His health is sort of beside the point." Something clicked in Klaus's mind. This diatribe was _very _familiar.

"Caroline… are you quoting _The Shining_ at me?" he asked, baffled.

She dropped the serious Nicholson impression and her demeanor shifted back to the happy-go-lucky careless Caroline she had been before. "It's a great movie, Klaus," she said, without explanation. "We should watch it later."

He ignored the random request. Vampires who shut off their emotions were known for being flighty in their thoughts, particularly if they were being forced to respond to an emotional conversation. And apparently Caroline didn't care in the slightest about the revelations on Finn, Freya, and Kol.

"Look we'll deal with… _everything_ in time. Are you ready to go home?" he ask impatiently, reaching out for her hand.

She just looked at it and did not reach back, before standing and walking to the door with him trailing behind. "I don't _have_ a home, Klaus."

* * *

The car ride back to New Orleans was made mostly in steely silence. Caroline refused to put out either the cigarettes _or _the joints that she seemed to light up minute by minute. Occasionally, she'd remove a flask from the breast pocket of the shirt she'd stolen off one of the male humans and take a swig. He declined to comment on her unseemly habits.

"How _did _you make it to Atlanta so quickly?" he asked her once they pulled back up to The Abattoir a few hours later.

"Do you not have even a _basic_ conception of the layout of America's east coast?" she asked, annoyed. "It's only a three hour train ride from Richmond to New Orleans. The bus up to Georgia was nothing, even if it was smelly."

"That's not what I meant," Klaus snapped right back. "You had been gone for hours by the time I even realized you had left the city. How did you manage to sneak out without anyone noticing?"

Caroline winked at him after he helped her out of the car. "Like I told you last night, I'm _very _sneaky without my humanity turned off. You called me capricious then too; you had no idea how apt the term was."

So, humanity-less Caroline had her intelligence heightened to its maximum potential, apparently, regardless of whether or not she was high or drunk. _That _was something to keep in mind. He'd always known she was smart and fiercely strong and independent — those were some of her qualities he'd always found most attractive. But with her emotions switched off, all of her best aspects suddenly transformed into a weapon… and Caroline was clearly always poised to remain in self-defense mode for the foreseeable future.

Elijah and Rebekah had arrived ahead of them. Klaus noticed Elijah's car when they pulled up.

They stepped inside and were welcomed by Rebekah's sarcasm, as biting as always, even in a new body with a new voice.

"Caroline! So nice of you to join us, you _definitely _didn't waste any of our time today!" she called out.

"Rebekah," the blonde called out in greeting to his sister seriously before casually draping an arm around her shoulders. Caroline sighed into Rebekah's ear, loudly. "You can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work!"

With that she lay a loud, resounding smack of a kiss onto Rebekah's cheek and walked upstairs without another word. Rebekah looked at Klaus in confusion while Elijah chuckled from the sidelines.

"Did she just quote… _Ferris Bueller_ at me?" Rebekah asked.

"She's on a bit of a film kick today, _apparently," _Klaus growled, slamming the door behind him and crashing onto the couch in the nearest living room. They heard Caroline's door slam upstairs and Klaus groaned again. "I honestly don't know what to make of her like this."

Elijah and Rebekah watched from the sidelines. Rebekah, as usual, had the balls to speak up first.

"Maybe you should send her away, Nick," she said, softly. "While she's like _this_, at least?"

Klaus didn't even have to move or respond. He just glared up at his sister and she quieted down.

"And if she _did _shut down her emotions because of Stefan Salvatore?" Elijah asked finally, "What then?"

Klaus glowered even more, if that were possible. "I am _sure_ that this is all because of her mother."

"Humor the hypothetical, Klaus," Elijah pushed.

"Then _hypothetically_, while her humanity is turned on she has some absurd infatuation with Salvatore. When her humanity is off, she is more in-tune to her true desires, and she has sought out me," Klaus explained, angrily.

"What if it is not just infatuation, Klaus?" Elijah chanced.

"There _is _no hypothetical onto that possibility, brother!" Klaus spat out, rising in a rage again. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe you have both outstayed your welcome. I know for fact that Hayley's pack is staging some sort of celebration tonight for tonight's full moon, perhaps I will find you all there."

He punctuated the speech with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"You always have been such a _grateful _man, Klaus," Rebekah said, cooly.

Elijah and Rebekah both looked at each other, unable and unwilling to hide their concern, but they stood and left anyway. When he heard the lock of the front door click behind them, he lowered his head into his hands wearily. After a few moments to collect himself, he rose and made his way to Caroline's room.

He put his ear to the door and jiggled the handle which was, of course, locked. She had music playing again, but very softly this time.

"Caroline…" he called out. But as soon as he said it, he realized something.

There had never been a set of speakers in that room, nor did Caroline have a computer with her. Her suitcase couldn't have even held one.

He didn't call again, he just braced himself and slammed his full weight on his shoulder against the door. It buckled and fell in immediately and his eyes scanned the room when he landed. There were a new set of speakers in the corner. When in God's name had she brought _those _in? They were softly playing music but Caroline was nowhere to be seen.

With no one home, Klaus didn't bother to smother his angry growl this time.

_How many more fucking times am I going to have to break down doors for this woman? _he wondered to himself and picked up his cell before speeding down the stairs.

* * *

If you'd asked Caroline, she'd say she wasn't even hiding from Klaus this time. He was mad at her, for no good reason, and Caroline hadn't been in the mood to deal with _other _people's emotions for days. She wasn't about to start managing hurt feelings any time soon. She needed to get out and hang out at a bar for awhile.

So, she'd popped a tape into the speaker system that she had stolen and left in her room after leaving Klaus at Cochon that morning. When she'd snuck her way into Atlanta, half vamp speeding it and half hitch-hiking with some drivers easily compelled to speed — _not _on a bus as she'd told Klaus — she'd stopped before hand to pick up some new essentials and dropped them off at his place. He hadn't even returned home yet when she'd dropped off the speakers and music, making her reprieve to Atlanta even easier, despite the fact that she'd always intended to come back.

Sure, Atlanta had the Coca-Cola museum and _yes, _she wanted to see it. Who didn't? But other than that, Atlanta had _nothing _on New Orleans to satiate her current selfish desires. Here it was, barely 7 o'clock and she wasn't the only one already drunk, not even close! She was surrounded by other drunks, many of them with deliciously discernible heartbeats! It was paradise.

She hadn't gotten to see the museum but, she was already fairly bored with the new city within half an hour of arriving. There were no crazy bars. And the humans didn't taste as _sweet. _After killing several humans — _so _boring, until she'd tried out a new technique to make the experience all the more horrific — she was practically just _waiting _for Klaus to find her.

And so she was again, giving him even less of a chase this time. It occurred to Caroline that she was basically just teasing herself. He'd already made it clear that he wasn't planning to sleep with her while she was behaving in such a volatile fashion. But, she considered, if he wasn't going to sleep with her… watching the Big Bad Original totally King Kong-out over her was the next best thing.

After discovering her room unoccupied, Klaus had immediately picked up his phone to dial Elijah and Marcel but, before he set foot out his front door, he caught her scent. She was _close_. She wasn't trying to hide.

She was less than a block from The Abattoir. He followed her trail to a non-descript bar around the block. It was mostly occupied by humans. She was doing tequila shots off of a young college-aged girl.

"_Caroline," _he growled lowly. With the music blasting in the bar, no one who didn't have vampire senses could have heard him. As such, Caroline was the only one to turn to him. The woman offering shots from her stomach was already up and moving on to another table.

"You _bore!_" she chastised. "You're only just getting here _now?_"

"It occurred to me that maybe you just _like_ being hunted," he suggested coming up next to her at the bar and taking a swig of the beer she'd ordered for herself. "You do, don't you?"

"I'd like it a lot more if it resulted in me getting laid!" she threw right back at him.

He laughed at her. "I can take care of that, darling. Just turn your humanity back on."

"Do you _really _think I'm still going to want to have sex when I'm grieving over my dead mother?" she demanded.

"I've seen a lot of grief over the years, Caroline," he said, stepping towards her to cup the side of her face. "A natural source of endorphins is effective medicine."

She scoffed and stepped away from him and the bar. "Could that pick-up line _be_ any less effective?" she asked.

Klaus took a different approach.

"I can understand why you turned it off, Caroline," he said. "I can understand why you left Virginia. It _will _be hard but the longer you keep your humanity turned off, the more pain you'll be in when you turn it back on. You're doing things I know you'll regret."

"So I'll never turn it back on! Easy!" she snapped, and walked past him into the opposite room of the bar where a few people were already sloppily dancing.

"If you really insist to keep this up, you at _least _have to stop running off," he said, following her. "You don't understand yet but you haven't arrived at the most convenient time-"

"Ohhhh, Klaus!" she exclaimed, pulling him to her on the dancefloor by the lapels, their bodies flush against one another. "Don't you get it? My humanity is _off! _I thought we'd been over that. I can leave you… whenever I want."

She finished the thought with a careless little shrug, still holding him close to her. Then she looked up to his eyes, placing two fingers on his chest.

"And don't. You. Forget. It!" she said in a bright baby-talk voice, punctuating each word with a mocking little jab to his chest. When she'd finished, she squirmed out away from him to dance alone but he caught her around the wrist and vamp sped her right back into his arms where he lead her into a real dance. He was so much _quicker _than she was. _That's _what 1,000 years experience gave you.

"Just what do you think you're _doing_, Caroline Forbes?" he asked her, one arm possessively wrapped around her. "Do you really think you're in control here?"

She laughed, loudly.

"Do _you_ really think _you _are?" she asked. "Klaus, please. You won't even sleep with me because there's not enough… _feeling_, behind it. One of us is more easily able to manipulate here and, it ain't me because _I _don't have emotions to toy with."

Klaus sighed, his frustration evident. She wasn't wrong, but even without sleeping with her he'd found _other _ways to toy with her. He decided it was best not to voice that knowledge.

Caroline's attention was diverted and he looked over his shoulder to see her sizing up a group of young kids, he'd seen them around before. They lived in the city.

"Not them," Klaus said, holding her close when he felt her starting to pull away from him. "We don't feed on locals. Only tourists."

"What? Who says?"

"It's the one of the rules of the city, love. They keep things running smoothly for us here," he said.

Caroline huffed in annoyance before dragging him out of the bar, "I didn't come here because I thought there would be _rules_."

"Where are we going?" he asked with a laugh as she continued to haul him through the street.

"Bourbon street," she said. "You said tourists, I'm finding tourists."

* * *

Klaus made the trip quick. He'd compelled a young girl for Caroline and had her feed for just a minute before dragging her back to The Abattoir. They had a celebration to go to, the pack frequently held gatherings on nights with a full moon since Hayley's wedding and their curse was broken.

"Get dressed," he commanded. "The clothes we bought earlier are all in your room. We're going to a party."

"_Finally," _she'd responded, not caring a whit as to where they were actually headed that night. She slipped into a classic little black dress that she'd made him pick up before their lunch and met him downstairs.

"Hayley will be there tonight," he said when she appeared at his side. "My daughter, likely, will not. Either way, promise me that you'll _behave._"

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "I don't think I'm really capable of making promises right now," she said. "But if _she _behaves herself I won't really have a reason not to myself."

_Besides hurting or humiliating her for personal enjoyment_, Caroline thought to herself. But as frustrated as Klaus already was with her today, she didn't really feel the need to push him more. If a well-behaved Caroline was what he wanted, she'd play the role of her old self easily. Whatever it took to lure him into complacency and get herself laid.

Hayley lived with Klaus, normally, so Caroline wasn't sure whose house they were at. Klaus had simply said it was a party thrown by her pack. Tonight was a full moon and they didn't have to turn, thanks to some sacrifice Hayley had made. Caroline tuned out at that point of Klaus's explanation. She didn't care to know anything _benevolent _Hayley had done recently.

The party was on an old fashioned farm house far outside of The Quarter. It was rustic and reeked of southern charm. Twinkle lights hung from the mansion's porch and Caroline was sure her old self would have been fairly enchanted by the whole thing. Tucked into Klaus's side, she tried not to gag.

"So she's back," the she-wolf's voice rang out from behind them as soon as they had entered the party.

Caroline, on Klaus's arm, allowed herself to slowly be turned around to face Hayley.

"Hayley!" Caroline greeted in the most insidiously friendly voice she could muster and looking the wolf over. She was wearing a loose fitting brown dress with a heavy leather belt looped around her waist. "So you're still trying to rock that drab _'bohemian' _look. Shame."

"So _you're _still trying to rock the spoiled debutant look," Hayley intoned, dryly.

Caroline offered her a hollow laugh but moved on. "I do apologize for Klaus. He should never had bothered your pack today. All I did was take a little day trip out of town!" she replied.

Then, she surprised the brunette by abruptly pulling her in and kissing her cheek exaggeratedly. Hayley sucked in a long breath, clearly agitated.

"But _thank you_," she said, laying it on as thick as possible. "I'm touched by your concern."

Caroline flushed with pleasure. This was _fun_.

"Just keep yourself in check while you're here," Hayley said, holding back her anger. Caroline could see in her eyes, she was _pissed_. "My pack had no plans to change tonight but that doesn't mean they won't. Stay away from me."

Caroline smirked wickedly but Klaus stepped in.

"Caroline, darling, why don't you find yourself a drink?" he asked.

Caroline wasn't normally one to be foisted off in the midst of a private conversation but she found that she couldn't care less about whatever placations Klaus was doubtless about to spew to the mother of his child. With an annoyed smile, she disconnected herself from, Klaus and turned in search of better fun. Besides, provoking Hayley into violence with her entire pack their to back her definitely wouldn't be the smartest idea. She hadn't needed Klaus's blood to heal her in New Orleans yet and she hoped to keep it that way.

Klaus watched after Caroline for a moment, both to see that she was making her towards the bar and to locate other eyes at the party keeping watch. Rebekah was in the far corner and her eyes were locked on Caroline's form. _Good girl_, he thought before turning back to Hayley, who was still overlooking her celebration and her pack. Her brows had deep frown lines etched into them. She was very concerned.

"Penny for your thoughts," Klaus said.

Hayley sighed. "You _know _what my thoughts are." She was agitated.

"Caroline's humanity is off," he said. "She doesn't care any more for past petty feuds."

"Right, past petty feuds are just a source of amusement for her now," Hayley responded. "Which explains why she attacked me."

Klaus sighed. "She won't do that again," he promised, unsure of how true that statement actually was. "And she would never do anything to Hope."

Hayley looked up at him, shaking her head.

"You have a lot more confidence than I do, Klaus," she said. "If you're really planning to keep her here… make her turn her humanity back on. She's dangerous without it, Klaus, I can sense it."

He swallowed hard. "I'm working on it."

Hayley's eyes were still on Caroline who, now with drink in hand, was starting up a conga line on the dance floor in the courtyard outside the house. "I trust you, Klaus. I just don't trust her."

They both stood quietly side by side for a moment. Klaus snagged a glass of champagne from the passing trey of a caterer and turned to her again.

"How is our daughter?" he asked.

Hayley smiled. "Sweet as always," she said. "Jackson and several other members of the pack are with her tonight. We're not exactly advertizing that we're not living with you any more and it never hurts to be careful."

"Good," he said. "I agree. This won't be forever, you'll be back home soon."

Hayley shrugged like she didn't really believe him and walked away to talk to a guest across the room. Klaus noticed Elijah watching her from the sides of the party. Suddenly, Rebekah stepped up where Hayley had just been.

"Enjoying the party?" he asked.

"_No." _Rebekah snorted. "If it weren't for that girl you're playing house with, I'd be at home trying to figure out how to bring Kol back and get into my own body."

"I'm not sure I'd define what I'm doing as _playing house_," he said but Rebekah stared coldly back at him. She wasn't in the mood for games. "Well, get on with it then. I think she's fine for the evening."

Rebekah checked over her shoulder looking at the bored blonde sitting on the couch sucking at a cocktail through a straw.

"You'd better get over there," she advised. "She's bored and that _can't _be good. I'll see you later."

Klaus waved her off and turned to redirect his attention to Caroline. She looked like the calm before a storm. He'd be better off getting her out of here.

They'd made their appearance at the party long enough to make sure that Haley's pack, as well as Marcel and his siblings, saw that Caroline was under control, at least for the time being.

* * *

After stopping several times to compel tourist to feed from — Caroline's renewed bloodlust was insatiable, apparently — he'd finally taken her back to The Abattoir. He'd immediately settled into his couch, simply thankful that Caroline had kept her promise to keep the peace for that evening.

"Heeeeeere's Johnny!"

Caroline's head appeared from around the doorframe. In her hands she held a DVD copy of _The Shining. _

"I had a feeling you guys would have it. I passed by Elijah's extensive film collection yesterday day on my way up to bed," she said and made her way over to the television with the film before plopping down on the sofa next to him, the empty movie case in one hand and a bottle of Johnny Walker in the other. He frowned. They had much nicer liquor than that but he supposed this created some sort of mood for her.

"I had no idea you were such a film fanatic," he stated simply.

She curled herself into his relaxed frame without asking. "Oh, yeah! I _adore _Kubrick and Scorsese," she said. He found himself wrapping around her without question, because it seemed the most right feeling in the world. "Or anything with Jack Nicholson. Or Meryl Streep. Ya' know, all the good stuff."

"All the good stuff?" he asked as the movie began to flash on the big screen in front of them. "What about Bogart?"

"Don't get me wrong, I love the classics too," she said. "But earlier I was basically bathing in blood in a hotel. _The Shining _seemed only fitting for tonight."

He didn't begrudge her. She was entranced by the film, knew much of it by heart. He wondered how many times she seen it. It was so oddly fitting… that this young, gloriously beautiful vampire would have such an innate love for this type of film. He couldn't believe she'd actually settled down enough to watch it and he definitely felt a vague sense of unease that she was working _some _angle that he just hadn't discovered yet. But with her tucked into him, he was willing to overlook his suspicions for the time being.

The scene where Jack Nicholson's character entered room 237 came up. Caroline was perfectly still, clearly invested in the movie with every shred of her consciousness. They were almost to the part where the naked woman emerged from the bathtub now… Caroline was leaning in closer to the television. The music was growing louder.

"Ahhh!" Klaus screamed, very suddenly, into her ear while gripping her tightly out of the blue.

Caroline returned his scream in kind, but hers was genuine. She was looking up at him with bright, unblinking, fearful eyes until she spontaneously dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Oh you _jerk!_" she seethed, still laughing. "God damn, that was _good_. Congratulations where they're due. I can't believe I didn't see that coming."

Klaus was laughing with her but he'd picked up the remote to pause the film. The scene they were on wasn't exactly _ideal_ for romantic interludes.

He looked down at her in his arms and she grinned back up at him.

"Klaus Mikaelson, are you trying to put the moves on me?" she asked. "During a horror movie? How cliche!"

She was teasing, he could see it in her eyes but, in the same glance, he could still see her distance as well. As much as he wanted her, he didn't want to delude himself while she had her humanity turned off. Eventually, she'd turn it back on. And if he'd let himself get _too _involved with her before that happened, their parting would only be more painful when she did.

"It's late, Caroline. I have plans to see my daughter early tomorrow. I have to be getting to bed," he said, removing her from his arms and laying her soundly on the couch.

"_Ugh," _she cried out in frustration. "Klaus, you really are the worst host ever."

"Only because I won't sleep with you while you aren't yourself?" he called out from the bottom of the stairs. "I'd say that makes me an exceedingly gallant host. Enjoy your movie!"

Caroline groaned again before huffing and putting the movie back on play.

* * *

_I always try to stay as cannon and in-character as possible but I can't resist a little fluff in this pairing… even if Caroline happens to be a conniving bitch right now._

_**SaiyukiLover232**__ hope this chapter clears up any concerns you may have had. Just wanted to let you know I am basically on the same page as you and have no plans to keep the family permanently split up! That in no way seems in-character to me, either. _

_Thanks to everyone else for their messages, questions, follows, and favs! If I didn't answer you personally it's because the answer to your question is a simple: wait and see! ;) _

_Still not an M, yet, I know. Turns out all the teasing is fun to write on its own. Plus, it seems the plot I have brewing just isn't quite there yet. But thoughts on pacing or anything else are always welcome! _


	4. Searching for Persephone

_**4**_

_**Searching for Persephone**_

In the absolute whirlwind excitement of finding Bonnie back home, everyone's concern over the sudden disappearance of Caroline had stalled. But only briefly.

When Elena had woken up from her best friend snapping her neck, she never thought anything could distract her. Caroline was going to turn off her humanity. Not only was this a terrifying prospect for the whole of the world — Caroline was both scary smart _and _dedicated _and _in extreme control of her vampirism; not a combination to take for granted — but once Elena had turned and faced her _other _best friend, whom she thought was long gone, her priorities shifted.

Bonnie had taken some time to make her calls letting people know she was back and then they had met up with Stefan, who was still clearly preoccupied with Caroline.

"I should have told her when I had the chance," he berated himself. "God knows where she is _now._"

"I know I just got back but we _have _to get her," Bonnie insisted. "What good is coming back if my old life isn't still in tact? With Care gone… it just doesn't feel right."

"I know, I feel the same," Elena said with a sigh. "The problem is we have no leads. Her Mom's old place is cleared out, so is her apartment. There's no trace of her."

"There is one trace," Stefan said. "They found a body. Some kid around your guys' age, drained of blood. His name was Liam."

Elena and Bonnie exchanged worried glances.

"Let's go," Bonnie said first, and the three of them were off to where Liam had been found.

* * *

When Caroline woke up the next morning, Klaus was not home. She vaguely remembered him mention _the baby_, that thing everyone here was so nuts over. She rolled her eyes and padded down to the patio in her pajamas to get something to eat.

Elijah was waiting at the table eating a slice of quiche and reading the paper.

"Good morning, Caroline," he said pleasantly when he noticed her. "I see you've done us the great honor of actually staying the night!"

She ignored him and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Klaus should be back shortly," he continued, trying to engage her.

"Don't care," she replied before adding a splash of milk to her coffee.

Elijah sighed. The girl was amazingly petulant without her humanity.

"When are you _leaving_?" she asked him, quite rudely.

He looked up from his paper, completely unflappable.

"Not any time soon, I'm afraid, dear," he said. "And I'm not leaving the compound until this evening. I have a… friend joining me here later."

Caroline pretended to lack interest before she picked up a doughnut and made her way upstairs to finish her breakfast. _A friend? _That sounded promising. She couldn't wait to see who it might be. She finished her doughnut and got dressed.

"And where on Earth are _you _headed?" Elijah called to Caroline as he passed her in the main hall. She was skipping down the stairs while pulling her hair up into a ponytail. She was wearing a bikini top over shorts, carrying a towel and wearing sunglasses.

"I'm not a prisoner, I can come and go as I please!" she replied in a huff, immediately on the defensive.

"I really think you should wait until Klaus returns," Elijah said putting up a hand when she tried to push past him, making her roll her eyes.

"I'm not _running away_," she sighed. "I'm going to the park to sunbathe. I didn't come to New Orleans to sit around the house all day. If Klaus needs me when he gets back, he can come to the park!"

With that she pushed past Elijah and out the door. Elijah sighed and picked up his phone to call Klaus but she turned around, walking backwards as she called out to him.

"Trust exercise, Elijah!" She turned again and continued down the street.

He was torn but he decided it really didn't make sense to keep the girl locked up. Instead of calling Klaus he called Marcel and made sure there were eyes on her at the park. Then, he settled in to wait for Klaus.

* * *

Klaus had only been over to Hayley's temporary home to visit with his daughter for an hour or so. He felt compelled to set eyes on her each day, to confirm she was there and _safe_. Hayley was giving him the cold shoulder and Jackson, if possible, was at his most irritating. He was acting like he was some sort of stand-up man and Klaus was nothing. The implication poisoned the air in the room — he thought himself a better father.

As happy as he was to see Hope, the wolves were toxic personalities and Klaus found himself rushing out of his visit to clear his head. They needed to return home; stress was running high with the family in discord. Caroline had to turn her humanity back on and he had no idea how to make that happen. He would hate it if he had to call her old friends up north. He would only consider it as a last resort option.

He opened the door to his home and was greeted by Elijah standing from the living room the moment he set foot in the house.

"Klaus, I need you to stay calm and let me finish-"

Immediately he knew. _"Where is she?" _

"She hasn't run away," Elijah explained slowly, poised to defend himself if Klaus lashed out. "She's just gone to the park and I have Marcel's people tailing her. She wanted to get out of the house and…"

"And?" Klaus demanded.

"And she's says that _you _can come to _her_, if you need her," he finished lamely. This was not the kind of news anyone wanted to deliver to the Original Hybrid, even if he _was _your brother.

Klaus allowed himself a slew of curses. "And you just made the decision to _let _her without consulting me?"

"Klaus, we are not her keepers, despite whatever you keep insisting. I hate to be the one to have to say it to you first but you need to _get a grip_, man!" Elijah insisted.

He sighed deeply and paced into the living room. Elijah followed.

"If she has even left the park, Marcel's people would have informed us immediately," he added.

"I understand, Elijah," Klaus said, not looking him in the eye.

Elijah figured this was as close as he would ever get to Klaus admitting that he was right so he simply nodded.

"I'm going now. I don't know when we'll be back," he said and Elijah watched him use his vampire speed to race out of the home.

He honestly couldn't believe his luck. So Klaus _could _be reasonable.

* * *

A tall shadow obscured Caroline's access to the sunlight. She sat up on her towel and looked up into Klaus's face.

"Who's your new friend?" he asked gesturing to the listless woman next to her. She was still alive, just woozy.

"Oh you mean my juice box?" Caroline asked. She held up the woman's wrist which had two clean and clearly recent puncture wounds. "She's pretty out of it. I'm gonna have to send her on her way and get a new one soon. Hey, do you think if I pick up a drunk frat boy, it'll be like drinking blood and booze at the same time?"

Klaus bent over to grip the chin of the compelled woman's face. He snapped in her eyes to get her to open them.

"You will catch a cab home and go to bed," he compelled. "You don't even remember coming to the park today or anything that happened."

The woman got up, stumbling. She didn't look any different from the other drinkers on the streets and she swayed off to find a cab. Klaus took the vacated spot next to Caroline and sat down.

"I thought we talked about the shorts," he said. "You look like a tourist."

"Klaus!" she scolded with a laugh. "I don't listen to the things you say! Plus, I was sunbathing."

He sat with her for a few minutes, staring out onto the river. Her eyes were closed beneath her sunglasses, soaking everything up. He could almost convince himself that it was the most natural moment in the world.

"Do you like it here?" he asked her. She didn't move a muscle but to respond, still gazing out over the water.

"I think it's the most wonderful city I've ever been to," she said. He smiled.

"I'm glad," he said.

Finally she turned to him, even pushed her sunglasses to rest atop her head so she could look him full in the eye.

"I do wonder… if I'd like it this much if I hadn't turned it off," she admitted. She didn't sound sad about it, just curious.

He swallowed thickly. "I think you would love it even more," he said. "This city was made for you." _Don't you know you could be its Queen?_

She shrugged and pulled her sunglasses back down before standing.

"Come on," she said. "We have to get back. We don't want to miss Elijah's friend!"

"Elijah's friend?" Klaus questioned, following her. This _did _sound interesting.

* * *

"She's done a damn good job of staying hidden," Damon Salvatore said as their group collected outside Scull Bar. Elena had called him on their way over. "Gotta hand it to blondie, she knows what she's doing."

"That's what scares me," Elena said, allowing him to drape an arm around her shoulders.

Stefan approached from behind Bonnie.

"Anything?" he asked.

"She must have compelled the bartender," Bonnie answered. "No one in there knew anything."

"I found surveillance footage of her," Stefan said. "It's just from outside a bank a few blocks down. She left with an envelope, I think filled with cash. That's all I've got."

"Leave it to you, Stefan, to screw things up with a woman so badly she goes totally psycho," Damon said giving Stefan a look of impatience. Bonnie had just gotten back; the last thing she should be doing was running around looking for Caroline, in Damon's opinion.

Stefan rolled his eyes and ignored the jab. "Look, I think it's safe to say she's left the state. Any ideas?"

Elena was chewing on her lip, thinking hard. "You don't think…no. Never mind."

"What? Elena, any idea is worth discussing at this point," Bonnie pressed.

Elena let out a sigh, "You don't think maybe she would have gone to… to _Klaus_, do you?"

"Oh no, we are _not _messing with Klaus!" Damon insisted.

"Look even if he doesn't know where she is, once he finds out she's missing, _he'll _find her. I think we can be pretty sure of that," Elena said.

"And sell out your friend to Stalker of the Year? Yeah, great plan. What do we do if he finds her first?" Damon asked.

"Caroline has her humanity off and she's already killed once, I'm desperate Damon!"

"Let's at least go to New Orleans," Stefan said. "We don't even have to talk to Klaus, we can just go and see if anyone in the city is talking about her. If she's there, they _will _be talking."

"Agreed," Bonnie confirmed.

Stefan looked to his brother. Damon sighed heavily but nodded.

"You all are gonna do it with or without me anyway," he conceded.

"Damn straight," Bonnie replied. "Let's go find Care."

* * *

When they returned to the house, they were greeted by the sound of hushed whispers. It sounded… intimate. One of the voices was definitely Elijah's and the other was definitely female, both coming from the kitchen.

They both crept cautiously and silently through the house until they rounded the corner to the kitchen. Heads ducked in towards one another, both smiling, was Elijah with a lovely young vampire decked out in skinny jeans.

"Brother, Caroline," Elijah greeted, obviously slightly startled. "I didn't expect you back so soon."

"Hi! _I'm _Caroline," she greeted cheerily.

"Gia," the woman responded. "I've been hearing a lot about you around the city." Gia chanced a short glance in Klaus's direction.

"Caroline is… she is-" Klaus tried to think of a suitable explanation.

"I'm his girlfriend," Caroline piped up, holding out her hand to shake expectantly. She caught Klaus's surprised face and turned to him. "Well, aren't I? You certainly spend enough time following me around. Personally, I would have preferred the term 'lover' but, well, given the current state of affairs…"

Caroline made a lewd grimace, hinting that the problem in their sex lives might have been _inadequacy_, and turned back to Gia.

"Why don't you come with me to pick out a bottle of wine, Gia?" she asked.

"Sure, okay," she said with an unsure smile and followed Caroline out of the kitchen.

Klaus, for his part, was still reeling over what Caroline had just said.

"Please, Klaus, pick your jaw back up. You know she's not being serious," Elijah said.

Klaus shook his head. "Right, of course. I _know _Elijah," he said. Still, to even hear her say that.

In the other room, Caroline had opened a small liquor cabinet in the living room and was scanning between the few bottles of wine they had out.

"So Gia," Caroline began, "Can I just say: you are _gorgeous. _I can see why Elijah likes you!"

"Oh, we're just friends," Gia responded with a laugh.

Caroline looked up at her from kneeling on the floor, holding a bottle of Moscato. _"Right, _Gia. I _saw _the way he looked at you." _And the way he looks at Hayley too, for that matter,_ she thought to herself.

"We're really just friends," she repeated, but didn't sound at all sure. "He's helped me out a few times. Taught me to fight."

"Yeah, that _totally _sounds like something Elijah does for his _'friends,'" _she said, making air quotes.

Gia followed Caroline back into the kitchen, clearly mulling over what the blonde had told her. _This is gonna be too easy_, Caroline thought looking at the girl.

Klaus had brought out wine glasses. Elijah took the bottle from her which he proceeded to uncork and pour out for everyone.

Klaus snuck his arm around her waist pulling her in close to him. He pressed his lips to her temple and breathed a whisper into her ear.

"Just remember, you started this game," he said. He was going to play out this _boyfriend _scenario for all it was worth.

"So Gia, you said Elijah taught you how to fight?" she asked.

"Just a little, yes, but it's helped me a lot," she replied.

"Gia is a quick learner," Elijah added.

"Has Klaus taught you how to fight?" she asked.

Caroline laughed, looking up at him and caressing his cheek with an adoring hand. If he wanted to play, she bet she could win. "No, I already know how to fight."

"Caroline is absolutely vicious," Klaus said in the most absurdly affable and adoring tone. Anyone would have thought that he'd just said _Caroline is an absolutely selfless teacher who tutors the poor_.

"Yeah, so don't get on my bad side," Caroline said darkly, her face growing still and serious as she stared the girl down. Just when Caroline could tell that Gia had the good sense to start to feel somewhat afraid, Caroline broke from her serious face and out into a smile and started laughing. "Just kidding!"

Klaus laughed right along with her and Gia let out a nervous chuckle as well. Only Elijah was not laughing, sipping at his wine and staring over at Caroline curiously. She was planning something and it appeared it was going to effect him. He hadn't even done anything to her, it was perplexing.

"Will you be staying for dinner?" Caroline asked her and right as Gia was about to respond her phone rang. She picked it up to check her message.

"Sorry, the boss calls. It's Marcel," she said, setting her wine glass down. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too, I'm sure I'll see you again soon," Caroline replied brightly.

"I'll walk you out," Elijah said and led Gia from the room.

As soon as they were out, Caroline bumped Klaus off of her with a sharp nudge from her hip and elbow.

"Alright, fun's over, buddy," she said.

Out on the porch of the compound, Elijah kissed Gia goodbye and then looked down at her.

"I apologize if Caroline did anything to make you uncomfortable," Elijah said, putting it delicately.

"Nonsense, she was a lovely girl. It's a little strange to see Klaus with someone like that, or dating at all for that matter but she was quite nice," Gia said before kissing him goodbye a second time and walking away from The Abattoir.

_That's what worries me_, Elijah thought to himself. Caroline hadn't been a lovely girl from the minute she'd foot in the city.

* * *

Somehow Caroline had roped Klaus into a game she'd dubbed "Booze Chess." It involved Klaus taking a shot each time one of his pieces was captured and Caroline taking a shot whenever she cared to which was, for once, a lot less than usual.

He'd thought his centuries advantage in experience with the game would make it an easy win but Caroline could hold her own in chess. She was also considerably less drunk. Eventually, he had won but not without losing the majority of his pieces, so he almost wondered if she had let him.

Then she was standing up, pulling on a light jacket.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"Finding dinner," she replied.

"I'll have someone come over," he insisted.

"Not as fun," she said. "I want to hunt. You can stay. You're drunk."

Klaus made a noise of protest but she laughed at him.

"I'll come back," she said. "I'm not bored here yet."

He did take some solace in that knowledge. It was almost a compliment. And he'd learned earlier today that allowing Caroline some measures of freedom did wonders improving her mood.

"It shouldn't take more than an hour I'd think," he posed cautiously.

"No, it shouldn't," she agreed and then was gone.

Klaus had briefly dozed off after she left. And some indiscernible amount of time later, he was awakened by a noise from his kitchen. He stood and went to investigate the source of the sound.

He found Caroline in the kitchen, covered in blood, an elderly local woman hanging in her arms. The woman was fading fast and as the last sparkle of light slipped from her eyes, Caroline dropped her like a sack on his floor.

"_Caroline_, we talked about the locals!" he chastised, walking over to the body and turning it over with a nudge of his foot. She was definitely dead.

"Oops," Caroline said, licking an errant trickle of blood off of her chin. "Guess I really can't tell the difference."

That was bull. The old woman _oozed _Creole, from her dress to how her hair was styled. Klaus huffed in annoyance, not knowing what to say. It was no use scolding her. She was determined do whatever she felt like and have him deal with the consequences.

And she didn't have any intention of stopping, apparently. Without prompting, she stepped over the body and pulled herself up to him, standing on her toes. She kissed him, the taste of blood still on her lips making his fangs descend in immediate reaction. Lifting her up, she swung her legs around him and he backed her into a counter where he sat her down. He let out a groan when she started kissing his neck.

"What are you _doing_?" he asked. He'd meant it rhetorically, something spouted off in his lust-filled haze, but she answered.

"I'm trying to get you to sleep with me, obviously," she replied, and started pulling at his belt buckle. "I've practically high from all this blood. Let's _bang_."

Her small hands were making quick work of his belt and the feel of her down there was _intoxicating_, so he caught them and pinned them to her sides.

"Turn your humanity back on," he demanded.

"_Why?" _she insisted, growing angry. "Why do you _care _so much? I came here because I thought you'd be the _last _person to give me a hard time about this."

"I care because I've had you, _really_ _had you_, before," he said, growing vehement and practically shaking her. "I can't have less, not now."

"What if I don't want you anymore if I turn it on?" she asked, meanly. There. She'd finally done it, played her trump card. At least she'd gotten it out of the way early on, voicing his deepest fear. They'd both been thinking it. Well, Klaus had more been more specifically wondering about Stefan. At least _that _hadn't come up.

"You will," he said simply. "You did before and it's why you're here now."

Caroline turned her face stubbornly away from him, glaring. He tried to regain her favor by kissing her softly on her cheek and then trailing his lips down her jawline, softly sweeping a lock of her hair behind her shoulder.

"And there's no harm in trying to persuade you to turn it back on faster…" he continued, his breath hot on her neck.

"Klaus, I think you're underestimating my ability to just keep making out without having sex," she said. "I'm a woman. I can do this all day and then some."

Klaus stepped back a bit. She made a good point. He was liable to get riled up a lot more quickly than she, especially in this state, and _despite _the fact that he prided himself on containing an absurd amount of self-control.

"Just get _off_," she said, coldly. "If you're not gonna _do _me, there's no point."

He sighed and looked down at her. "You mean, if _you're _not going to turn your humanity back on."

If he'd seen it coming, he would have been ready for it. But Caroline's violent switch flipped on _out of nowhere _and she pushed him, using _all _of her supernatural strength. It sent him flying, sprawling into his own kitchen counters; the wood splintered beneath him and he groaned. Standing up, he could feel some of the wood splinters painfully wedged into his skin and he began to rip them out.

"_Don't _try to pin this on me!" she yelled, standing up from the counter. "With _or _without your humanity — no one ever knows for sure with you — you've done _way _worse things than I have ever done! You tried to kill me for God's sake! This demand to have me turn it back on is nothing but a… a goddam _double standard!_"

Now she was flouncing out of the room, heading towards the stairs. Quickly, he was up and hobbling after her while ripping out a final splinter. Damnit, her lawyer persona was back, apparently. She wasn't _wrong_ about this either.

"Caroline, I think you're oversimplifying the situation a bit-"

"Really?!" she shrieked, turning on him on the stairs, he was standing just a few stairs below her. "Okay, what exactly am I oversimplifying?"

Klaus stuttered, not knowing how to respond when the truth was so dangerous. _Because you're overlooking the fact that I love you, that I'd do anything for you, die for you. And I need you to feel the same. _

"That's what I thought!" she replied when he didn't answer and started back up the stairs. "I'll be in my room while _you _think over what a hypocrite you are."

She slammed the door behind her and immediately turned on her music, blasting it high enough to hear through the whole house.

"Caroline!" he called through her door, knocking heavy handedly. "Caroline, let me in!"

Klaus sighed before ultimately walking away. Was he being hypocritical? Rebekah had always told him that he was about _most _things, perhaps she was right.

At least she had called it _her _room.

* * *

"She's here alright," Bonnie said after exiting the _first _bar they'd entered in the French Quarter.

All of them had expected the Salvatore brothers, maybe even Elena to be spotted, but they'd also planned to hightail it out of the city once they'd asked a few questions and determined if Caroline had been there or not, hoping they would miss Klaus entirely.

What they _hadn't _been expecting was to enter the city and hear everyone buzzing about Caroline the moment they were spotted. No one was whispering _"Is that Elena Gilbert?" _but everyone seemed to be whispering _"Are those Caroline Forbes' friends?" _or _"Does Caroline know they're here?," "Did she invite them?" _

"What's our next move?" Elena asked.

"Someone's probably already told Klaus," Stefan said. "I think we should find somewhere to stay outside the city. We can come back in a few days when we have a better plan."

"A few _days_?" Elena argued. "Care is _here_, we need to get her now."

"Yeah, well the longer we hang around the more likely Klaus is to get to us first," Damon said. "And then we might never get to Caroline. He'll keep us from her if he knows we're trying to turn her humanity back on. Without it, it's the only reason she's down here at all."

"That's true," Bonnie said. "We need space. I can maybe try to perform a spell, something to keep us cloaked while we're here."

"Alright," Elena said, sizing up a vampire watching them from the corner of the street, "Let's get out of here."

Another vamp was approaching them from being Stefan. "Like _now_," he pressed.

Suddenly, from all sides, shuffling out from the many establishments on the sides of the street, vampires were approaching — dozens of them in a ring around the group. The four of them collected in a group, back to back, facing the imposing circle of smirking NOLA vampires.

"Okaaaay, any ideas?" Damon asked.

Bonnie's brows creased as she prepared to send a shockwave of pain out to the imposing group; she didn't even know if she had enough power right now to hit all of them with the spell.

"Hold it young lady," a smooth an easy voice piped up from the crowd. A tall man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache and almost shaved head was making his way towards the group from the front of the ring. "I wouldn't try that right now. We have a rule here, no magic inside the Quarter. Not without my permission."

"And who the hell are you?" Bonnie demanded.

"Marcel Gerard," Stefan answered for him. "He's Klaus's right hand man."

* * *

A few hours later, Klaus looked up from a book in his study when Elijah approached him. He had been reading greek mythology, legends of Hades, to try to distract himself while Caroline cooled off in her room.

Elijah was suited up, as usual, but somewhat fancier than normal.

"Going out, Elijah?" Klaus questioned.

"I've just received a phone call from Marcel," he replied. "He's hosting an event tonight."

"See if Caroline would like to go," he responded warily. "I'll join you if she does but she isn't speaking to me right now.

"I'm sure that won't last long, she's quite changeable right now," Elijah said. "In any case, it wasn't just an invitation. He says he's got a surprise for us."

"A surprise?" Klaus intoned. "I hate surprises."

"Unless they involve bewitching blonde vampires appearing in your city?" Elijah said, cracking a rare smile.

"We must always make exceptions," Klaus conceded. "And as dubious as I am over whatever Marcel has to show us, I suppose we must make an appearance."

"I'll ask Caroline to get dressed," Elijah said, turning to head upstairs. But Caroline appeared around the corner.

"But I already am," she said, gesturing to the gold sequined cocktail dress she'd put on. "Please, you can't say the words _event _or _party _in this house without me hearing."

Klaus chuckled. "Then it's me who is late. Give me one moment," he said and stood to find an appropriate suit.

* * *

Marcel had them on lock-down. They were each being kept in cell's beneath an elaborate French Quarter villa he'd taken them to and there were a dozen vampires stationed around their prison. They couldn't even _plan _without someone hearing.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Bonnie asked, peering through the bars of her cell to look at Elena in the adjacent cell.

"Marcel will get Klaus, I would assume," she replied. "We'll never get to her."

"Don't turn into the hopeless type on us now Elena, we need your implacable sense of optimism," Damon chimed in hollowly from his own room.

Stefan looked the most upset of all of them, remaining in steadfast silence. Elena knew he felt guilty and, worse, might even be in love with the girl they'd lost forever.

Above them, there was a mess of comotion. It had been going on for hours, furniture being moved, things lugged in and out of the house.

"What the hell are they doing up there?" Damon wondered aloud, looking up at the ceiling. Another loud thump shook some plaster and dust upon him and he coughed and whipped at his eyes exaggeratedly.

Suddenly, the distinct thudding vibrations of music with a heavy bassline poured through the ceiling above them.

"He's having a party?" Elena questioned.

"Do you think we're gonna get to go?" Damon asked in faux-excitement, clasping his hands together.

"Hey!" Bonnie called out to the three guards in front of her cell. "What's going on up there?"

They looked at her but ignored her with bored expressions.

"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see," Elena said with a sigh, standing to pace and stretch her legs.

* * *

Marcel was hosting his party at one of his many properties in the French Quarter. Caroline was clearly pleased to be greeted by a 1920s swing band when they stepped onto the property, but Klaus was on edge. He wanted to find Marcel and put this whole "surprise" business to rest.

Across the room, Caroline was waving at someone brightly, as if she'd seen a friend. Klaus looked over top of her to see Gia grinning back. He put his arm around Caroline's waist and pulled her to his side, leaving a sloppy kiss on her cheek, just to the side of her mouth. She looked up at him quizzically.

"Gia," he explained. "She thinks you're my _girlfriend, _remember?"

Across the room, next to Gia someone scoffed at the sight of Klaus and Caroline. Gia looked behind her, it was Hayley.

"What? I think they're cute," she said. "You don't still have feelings for him, do you?"

"_Klaus?!" _Hayley laughed in disbelief. "Not likely."

"Then what's your problem?" Gia asked. She liked Caroline.

"Look, I have _never _known Caroline Forbes to be even remotely interested in Klaus," Hayley said. "And that includes now."

Gia shook her head. "I think you must be mistaken," she said. "She's definitely his girlfriend."

Hayley scoffed and turned away, preparing to walk off. "God whatever insane game she's playing now… I honestly don't want to know."

Gia frowned at the girl's retreating back before turning back to the party, sipping at her cocktail. She caught Elijah's eyes from across the room and smiled at him. He returned the expression.

Caroline had separated from Klaus to make her way to the dance floor where she was unleashing a perfect Charleston, all by herself. He remembered she'd organized many events in her time at Mystic Falls, he'd even danced with her at the 20s Decade Dance she'd organized. Caroline never did anything halfway. If she had to learn to expertly execute the moves of dances from another decade she would, anything to set the perfect mood for a party.

He'd join her later; now he needed to find Marcel.

* * *

**Thanks you all so much for the hugely positive response! I look forward to revisiting this story so much, which is why I've been updating daily. All your comments about what's working for you and what isn't in this fic have been so helpful for me in keeping a balance between fluff, violence, scheming, and — of course — Hayley and the baby. I do still want to keep things as realistic as possible in that department; no drama for drama's sake. Can't wait to hear if you liked the update. :) :)**

**Minor SPOILER alert for anyone not currently caught up with TVD - The Damon's mom plot is temporarily AU and out of my fic. I might decide to bring it back later but, for now and probably forever, it would just be an unnecessary distraction for the main plot line I have planned. **


	5. Queen of the Underworld

_**Author's note: **_Important announcement at the end of this chapter, so keep an eye out for that when you finish. Enjoy!

* * *

_**5**_

_**Queen of the Underworld**_

Caroline had been dancing for awhile, frequently by herself, other times with random vampires who both looked scared to say yes but too scared to outright turn her down. Klaus wasn't watching either way and, he hadn't returned back to her. He was searching for someone, she could tell, and she thought it was probably Marcel. And, then, he finally found him.

"Elijah tells me you have a surprise," Klaus said, approaching his old friend. "For your sake, I hope you don't intend to make me wait. I'm already put out not knowing what you have going on."

"We had some new visitors in the Quarter today," Marcel said, sipping his drink. "I invited them to stay for awhile. I think it's time you said hello."

Across the dance floor, Caroline was watching Klaus follow Marcel with hawk eyes. She wanted to know what they were up to. Looking around the room her eyes landed on Gia and, it just so happened, Gia had been watching her. The brunette hurriedly looked away when she noticed Caroline, looking embarrassed and… did she see a trace of guilt? Caroline made her way over to her new _friend._

Klaus was following Marcel past a locked door down to his holding cells. Klaus hadn't been down here in decades; who could he possibly have locked up? When they reached the bottom of stairs, Marcel brightened the dimmers on his lights.

There, in four separate cells, were none other than the Salvatore brothers, Elena Gilbert, and their little Bennett witch.

"Well, well," Klaus commented, dryly. "This _is_ quitethe surprise, indeed, Marcel."

His rested on Stefan and his jaw locked. He couldn't help but to seethe. He wanted to torture him, slowly, in every way he could imagine.

Stefan wasn't a fool. He saw the shift in Klaus's demeanor. It wasn't a pleasant experience, when the Original Hybrid was clearly enraged and had every ounce of that anger directed towards _you_. _He knows_, Stefan thought.

"Where's Caroline, Klaus?" Elena demanded immediately, not intimidated in the slightest. She stood and walked right to the bars of her cell. Pressing her face out to glare at him.

He removed his eyes from Stefan to acknowledge her, stewing silently for a moment, thinking of his next move.

"Let's talk upstairs," he said to Marcel, "Leave them for now."

"Klaus!" Elena screamed after him. "Where _is _she?"

He didn't turn around, he just pulled aside one of Marcel's guards.

"The man in the last cell," he said. "Torture him, use vervain, but leave him alive."

* * *

"Hey, Gia, you all sure throw a great party, here," Caroline said, sidling up to the brunette.

Gia faced her with a forced smile. "Hey! Thanks, Marcel throws these all the time," she said. "I'm glad you're having a good time."

"So, have you asked Elijah to dance?" Caroline asked in a gossipy voice, flashing a friendly and joking smile.

"Elijah?" Gia asked, practically spitting out her drink and sputtering for a moment. "Uh no, I actually haven't even seen him."

"Oh, I'll keep an eye out for him," she promised. "I'm looking for Klaus myself. So, what was it that Marcel pulled you away for earlier? I was sad we didn't have more time to hang out."

Gia flushed and looked nervous. "Look, Caroline… I haven't been totally honest with you," Gia said. "Marcel needed my help with something… I'm sure it's why he's with Klaus right now."

"Gia? What's going on?" Caroline said, putting on the best mask of innocence she could muster.

"I work for Marcel, so I can't say anything," Gia said. "I want to tell you… Just go find Klaus. That's all I can say."

"Oh, okay… well, thank you," Caroline said and walked away.

Making her way away from Gia, she saw Hayley not too far away. As much as she wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on with Klaus and Marcel, she'd had another plan she'd been chewing on since earlier that afternoon. She walked over to Hayley.

"Hey, I think Elijah is looking for you," she said smoothly.

"What's it to you?" Hayley responded.

Caroline held up her hands in defense, acting like Hayley was being ridiculous. "I'm just relaying the message."

Hayley walked away, rolling her eyes. Smirking, she turned in search of Elijah.

When she found him, she put on her best face of distress.

"Elijah," she called out and he turned to her, concern immediately apparent on his features when he saw her distress.

"Caroline? Whatever is the matter?" he asked.

"Is there somewhere we can speak privately?" she asked.

He ushered her into another room, behind a closed door. It was a library and it was completely empty. Perfect.

"Klaus has just disappeared," Caroline said. "He and Marcel are up to something."

Elijah sighed. "Whatever it is Caroline, it may not concern you. And if it does, I'm sure Klaus will keep you informed."

"Please Elijah?" she asked. "My position here is very precarious… if you know anything?" She let the question dangle.

Elijah took a moment, clearly thinking it over.

"All I know," he said finally, "Is that Marcel said he has some sort of surprise for Klaus."

Caroline's curiosity was genuinely peaked at that one.

"Thank you Elijah. I'm going to go wait for Klaus," she said and he made a motion to follow her out of the library. "Oh wait, Hayley said she needed to talk to you. She seemed upset. I told her I'd find you. Wait here, okay?"

Before he could respond in any fashion, she had rushed out, closing the door behind her. The timing could not have been more perfect. Hayley was walking up.

"Is he in there?" she asked, shortly.

"He's all yours," Caroline replied and walked away, smirking once she was past Hayley. She rounded the corner and then waited. She heard Hayley open the door and walk in. _Too easy_.

"Oh, Gia!" Caroline called, a few minutes later, flagging the girl down. "You were looking for Elijah? He's in there." She pointed to the door.

"Great, thanks Caroline," the unsuspecting brunette replied and walked towards the door.

Caroline had no way to be sure that Elijah and Hayley would even be doing anything but she'd seen how they looked at each other. She had a suspicion that she'd just foisted upon them some of the only alone time they'd had together in a while — perhaps since Hayley's marriage to Jackson.

She lay in wait to find out.

The door opened again and Gia stumbled backwards. "Oh my God! I'm s-sorry," she called out and slammed the door. Making her way through the gathering with a stunned expression on her face.

"Gia?" Caroline asked in the most concerned voice she could fake. "What's the matter?"

"I have to go," was all she said. "I'll see you later Caroline."

"Will you be okay?" she called after the girl. She didn't respond. Caroline smiled smugly.

Elijah emerged from the room, glancing around wildly in search of Gia. His eyes landed on Caroline and narrowed. Caroline put on a mask of innocence and went to find Klaus.

* * *

Klaus had joined Marcel on the second story of the house in Marcel's personal study.

"They've come to turn her humanity back on," Klaus said.

"That would seem to be the case," Marcel agreed. "But doesn't that put you all on the same mission?"

"It very well does _not_," Klaus growled. "I thought I might need them, but it was going to be a last resort. Caroline turned her humanity off because of Stefan Salvatore."

"Unrequited love?" Marcel asked.

"That's the prevailing theory. She won't say and _they _won't tell us anything," he said.

"Well, what do you want to do with them?" Marcel asked.

"We can't just let them go, they'll stop at nothing till they bring her back with them," Klaus considered. "But we need to turn her humanity back on."

"One of them could be her emotional trigger," Marcel suggested and Klaus inclined his head in agreement. "Stefan Salvatore… could be her emotional trigger."

"_Yes_, Marcel, I bloody well understand that!" he snapped.

"Klaus, what I'm asking is… if that's a possibility, would you prefer her with her humanity off _or_ on and with Salvatore?" Marcel asked. "Because we can always kill him."

Klaus considered this. "I don't know."

"Even if Stefan could get her to turn it back on, he'd need time with her, time alone," Marcel mused. "We don't necessarily have to let that happen. We could show her her friends, see if anything is triggered… if it doesn't work, we lock them back up and see if having them imprisoned for awhile stirs any feeling in her."

"She'll be pissed, if we do that, and she turns it back on," he said.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Marcel asked. "Besides when she turns it back on, she's going to have a lot of other problems on her mind… mostly about what _she's _done."

Klaus could see his point and he truly didn't know what to do with Caroline's flock of friends otherwise.

"Bring them up here, keep them bound, tight security but only the people you trust," Klaus demanded and left the study to return to the party.

* * *

Caroline had been around the party several times and still not found Klaus again. She was, however, very successfully managing to avoid either Hayley or Elijah.

"Something's up," Caroline overheard Jackson talking to a member of his pack. "Everyone's talking about something, like a fight just went down that I didn't know about."

Caroline couldn't resist. She turned to him like she had the _juiciest_ bit of gossip, "_I _heard that everyone saw Gia leave after catching Elijah with Hayley!"

Jackson's face crumpled. "Elijah and Hayley? What were they doing?"

"Well," Caroline laughed, "I'm _sure _you can imagine." She actually had no idea what they'd really been doing. It could have been nothing for all she knew but she sincerely doubted that after seeing how upset Gia was. Jackson had balled his hands into fists. "Ohhh right… you two are _together_ now? Ouch," she lamented to him.

He ignored her and pushed past her in search of Hayley. And then, finally, across the room she spotted Klaus, coming down from a flight of stairs. Well, that explained why she couldn't find him amongst the throngs of people at the party.

"Where have you been?" she asked, walking up to him. "I've been hearing lots of _rumors_," she intimated.

"Rumors?" Klaus demanded. Everything would change if she knew already.

"Elijah said Marcel had a surprise for you?"

Bloody Elijah. He'd have words with him later about keeping his mouth shut.

"I was surprised, not in a good way," Klaus said. "And unfortunately, I have to show you. Come with me."

Caroline took his hand and he began to lead her up the stairs. Well _this _was interesting. They walked down a long corridor that opened onto a balcony overlooking the party below. They walked past until they were in a more private part of Marcel's upstairs and he opened a set of french double doors, opening his hand to gesture her into the room first.

There, hands bound behind their backs, and several of Marcel's army surrounding them, were Elena, Bonnie, Damon, and Stefan.

"Oh, Klaus!" she cooed behind her. "For me?"

"_He _didn't invite us here, Caroline. We came for you! We love you and miss you and we want you to come _home,_" Elena began, right out of the gate as always.

"God Elena, I'm _already _sick of your voice. If you know what's good for you, shut the hell up, or I'll cut your tongue out," she snapped. Elena had been one of the _first _people she wanted to get away from after she'd flipped the switch. She had been glad she'd snapped her neck when she did. Elena was such a downer.

Caroline looked around at the rest of them, well aware that Klaus was monitoring her closely. Stefan had severe vervain burns across his face which she suspected was Klaus's doing, no huge surprise there. Damon had probably been dragged along by Elena. She paused on Bonnie.

"When the hell did you get back?" Caroline asked.

"Long story," Bonnie said. "I'd be happy to tell you about it when your humanity is back on and we're all on our way _home_."

Caroline snickered before turning back to Klaus and Marcel.

"Well, they came to get me, you caught them," she said. "What now?"

"What are you one of his lackeys now?" Damon asked, unbelieving. "Even without your humanity on, I never expected Caroline Forbes to take orders."

"There's a difference between taking orders and not giving a shit, you idiot," she snapped at him. "You're here to tell me to turn it back on. I'm not going to, end of story sooo… looks like you all got yourself caught for nothing."

"Are you sure Caroline?" Klaus asked.

She looked at him, her brows knit in confusion. Was she _sure? _Klaus made a sudden move and lunged towards Elena, gripping her chin in his hand and he wrenched her head sideways and let his fangs descend over her neck.

"My bite would kill her," he said. "Do you really not care?"

"_Seriously? _You too, Klaus?" she questioned, angry. "Why don't all of you just go join the Boy Scouts together!"

The door opened again and Elijah stepped in, surprising and momentarily distracting everyone. He looked shocked himself when he saw who was in the study.

No one could have said how it happened exactly, it was so fast. But in the second of distraction from Elijah, Damon had wormed out of his binds, dislodged himself from the grip of one of Marcel's thugs, and punched the man square in the face, knocking him out cold.

Bonnie let her power surge, incapacitating Caroline, Klaus, Marcel and his help, including the man holding Stefan. The affected vampires screamed and clutched their heads in agony. With the spell not directed at him, the newly released Stefan ripped free of his binds, smashed a chair next to him, and had Caroline wrapped in his arm with the broken leg of the chair directed towards her chest in just a few seconds.

The room grew silent as Bonnie backed off on her power. Klaus looked over at Caroline, stake pointed straight at her heart. The blonde was laughing, hard.

"Whoa-_ho_, I did not see that one coming from _you _Salvatore," she exclaimed. "Guess it's always been all about precious Elena all along. Why are you all even _here?_"

"Let her go Klaus," Damon said, eyeing Elena. Stefan was playing a good game but he and Elena knew he wouldn't hurt Caroline. If anyone was going to have to actually play out this transaction with Klaus, it couldn't be Stefan.

Unfortunately, Klaus called their bluff.

"He won't do it," Klaus said, but he didn't sound at all sure. "He wouldn't have come down here for her if he was still in love with Elena Gilbert."

"Elena is still my friend," Stefan improvised. "And if Caroline is really refusing to turn her humanity back on, she's better off dead."

"Ahh, no no no. Maybe if you were still the ripper, I'd believe that," Klaus laughed. "But not good-hearted Stefan Salvatore. In either case, it doesn't appear Caroline even has an opinion on whether I kill Elena or not so-"

"Uhhh, I wouldn't say _that_," Caroline said.

"As much as I adore your ruthless nature, darling," Klaus said, "I don't need the town of Mystic Falls trying to come after me for vengeance. I left that place because I was _tired _of its petty dramas."

"Hmm, I understand," Caroline said genuinely. After all, she'd wanted to get away from them too. And the people of Mystic Falls were like a freaking Hydra. Cut off one head, a dozen more came after you for revenge.

With that he dropped Elena who rushed over to Bonnie and Damon without a moment's hesitation. Caroline expected Stefan to drop her as well, but he only pressed himself into her more tightly.

"A nice gesture, Klaus, but I'm afraid we're still gonna have to take Caroline with us," he said.

"Oh _my_ God! When are you guys gonna get it?" she shouted at all of them. "None of you can tell me what to do! Okay? Not even at stake-point so, go to hell! Stefan isn't going to stake me anyway, he _cares _about me."

Everyone was staring at her so she forged ahead. "Look the humanity thing is just _not_ up for discussion," she said. "But if we can all just part without the freaking drama, I promise not to cut anyone _permanently _off."

That was a lie. She was so pissed at all of them right now, she'd be happy never to see any of them again. She'd just stirred up the most satisfying trouble for Hayley. This was distracting her from getting to watch the spectacular results play out!

Luckily, something about what she'd said struck a chord and she felt Stefan's grip relax on her ever so slightly. She took the opportunity. Caroline whirled around the moment the stake was dropped even an inch lower than the location of her heart and she promptly snapped Stefan's neck.

"Now," she said, pushing back her ruffled hair from her face. "Let that be a lesson to everyone. That is what _fucking _happens to you if you put a stake to my heart!"

"Caroline he's in love with you!" Elena shouted in what was clearly a final, desperate bid. "That's why he came all this way to get you, he's been killing himself with the guilt over not telling you sooner."

"_Get them out of here!" _Klaus snarled shooting a concerned glare at Marcel.

Marcel and his boys began dragging all of them out of the room. Stefan, still dead weight, was being dragged sloppily behind, feet first, making sure his head would be hitting every step on their way down.

"Caroline!" Bonnie screamed from the hallway but the blonde just looked bored.

"Well _that's _going to interrupt the party," Caroline noted.

Klaus couldn't say he was _dis_pleased with her reaction. She certainly hadn't warmed up to Stefan in the slightest. But he was still uneasy. With her humanity off, it could just be becoming harder to reach her. He didn't know how she'd feel when it inevitably returned, yet.

When he looked at her now, he saw nothing.

* * *

Once they had made it back downstairs, Klaus pulled Elijah aside.

"Keep Caroline distracted," he ordered and was heading towards Marcel's basement before Elijah had a chance to respond.

"_Gladly," _Elijah hissed to his retreating form and followed after the blonde.

Once down to the basement, Klaus found the foursome safely contained in their cells again. Klaus looked to Marcel's men and waved them upstairs silently. Elena and Bonnie exchanged confused glances.

"This is gonna be good," Damon muttered.

"It would appear," Klaus said, clearing his voice uncomfortably, "That we need to come to some sort of agreement."

"An agreement?" Bonnie asked. "With you?"

"It may be difficult to believe," he responded, "But we all want the same thing. And that is for Caroline to turn her humanity back on."

"What? Are you joking?" Stefan, who was finally awake again, though foggy. He had to be imagining what he'd just heard.

"You want her to turn her humanity back on?" Elena asked. "Why?"

"My reason's are none of your concern, Miss Gilbert. Suffice it to say that I'm willing to work together with you all to achieve this end," he answered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Damon said laughing. "No, I see what's going on here. Man _this _is good. We underestimated this guys. He really _loves _her."

"Damon don't _goad_ him," Bonnie hissed.

"Listen to the witch, Damon," Klaus said. "You are, after all, locked up and surrounded by an army of vampires ready to tear each of you apart at my command."

"Duly noted," Damon said, sourly. "Though, you _do _realize that once she turns it back on she might not want you anymore?"

"Yes, Damon, I know! Thank you. Everyone seems incredibly keen to point out that caveat to me lately!" he snarled.

"_Damon," _Elena chided.

Klaus took a moment to collect himself.

"So, you all made this valiant trip down here," Klaus said. "What exactly was your plan?"

The group exchanged looks.

"We just have to find her emotional trigger," Elena said.

Klaus laughed without humor. "Easier said than done, apparently."

* * *

When Elijah caught up to Caroline, she had been seeking out Hayley or Jackson but neither of them were anywhere to be found. He grabbed Caroline roughly by the shoulder and forced her around.

"I know it was you behind that stunt earlier, Caroline," Elijah said, his voice hard as he glowered down at her. "What on Earth were you playing at?"

"Why Elijah, you're not making any sense! I haven't the foggiest idea what you're talking about!" Caroline said. "Besides, if you're off doing disrespectful things with married women, that's really on _you_."

She started to walk away but he forced her to turn around again.

"Caroline, you cannot try to break up someone's marriage for your own amusement," Elijah demanded. "And you've hurt an innocent woman in the process, one who _thought _she was your friend."

"Oh boy, look how guilt ridden I am about it, ahhh!" Caroline said, sarcastically throwing her hands into the air. "But really? _Ruined _a marriage, that bad, huh? So you _were _getting up to something with Hayley?"

"Listen to me Caroline, you might have really put yourself in danger here," he said. "If you've ruined this marriage, you'll have an entire pack of werewolves after you. Their allegiance is only to Klaus and his daughter, not to Klaus and you. Barely even Klaus."

"Hmm," Caroline said, nodding as if she was seriously mulling it over. "Nah, I really think it's all gonna work out fine for me. But thanks for the concern!"

Elijah let her bounce off this time, not caring any more about helping Klaus with his distraction plan. He was _done _with that girl for this evening and possibly the next few.

In any case, Klaus had now appeared back upstairs and was now seeking out Caroline.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her when he found her.

Caroline craned her neck for one last scan of a feuding couple but sighed guessing they already left to fight it out in private. "Yeah, let's go," she said and let him lead her out by the arm.

* * *

Klaus waited until they had returned to The Abattoir to deliver his news. Caroline was slipping off her heels in the front hallway, bending a knee to rub a sore foot. He was struck for a moment at how normal the sight was, how he could almost trick himself into believing that this was a scene he would witness many times over in the future to come.

"Caroline," he called out, interrupting the moment. "I have something to tell you."

"What?" she asked, facing him while she unclipped her earrings.

"I've set your friends free," he told her. Her brows creased.

"_What?" _

"They've struck a plea-bargain of sorts," he explained.

"Of sorts? I'm gonna need some more detail on that," she said. She looked enraged.

"Apparently, news of Kol's passing has already circulated to Virginia," he said. "The Bennett witch thinks she can help to bring him back."

"Klaus, I understand that for some _inane _reason you and Rebekah feel like you need to bring Kol back," Caroline said, "Even though you're constantly daggering both of them every other day it seems like… But you _know _they're not going to let up on me while they're here."

"No, that's part of the deal," Klaus said. "They leave you alone and once Kol is back they're on their way. In exchange, they get their freedom."

Caroline considered this for a moment. "Alright, but if I even get the sense that _anyone_ is trying to play me, you'll all regret it. _Trust me._"

"If anyone tries, I shall personally tear out their throat myself," he promised.

She pointed at him very seriously. "That goes for you too."

* * *

The next morning, Caroline had left the compound before he awoke for breakfast. It was still his natural response to feel the rush of instant anxiety but, he had to remind himself, he was learning trust with her. An exercise made all the more profoundly difficult thanks to Caroline's lack of feeling. More calming was the reminder that if she had gotten too far, he would have received a call by now. After Atlanta as well as the appearance of the Mystic Falls group, more Marcel's army were being stationed by the city borders.

But before she returned home, Rebekah had showed up. He'd spent a considerable length of time with her on the phone the previous evening, explaining everything that had transpired. The plan with Kol was a ruse to subtly try to awaken the real Caroline, yes, but there also was the chance that Bonnie could really help them. Klaus had left them with the promise that he would never interfere in Mystic Falls again if Bonnie should actually succeed. It was a big risk, especially considering if they _did _get Caroline back, she might want to return to Mystic Falls one day. And it'd be almost certainly impossible to keep his promise if Caroline was ever in trouble in Mystic Falls.

"Are they here yet?" Rebekah asked as she stepped through the door, "I've brought over a lot of the texts I've been working with for Bonnie to look over."

"No but they should arrive shortly," he said. "There's coffee on the patio. Caroline isn't here either."

Rebekah blinked up at him in shock. "You can't be serious," she said. "Caroline is gone and you're offering me _coffee?_"

"She'll be back," he responded, tersely, putting a decisive end to the conversation.

It wasn't much longer until the Virginia Saints arrived, sour-faced as usual.

"Where's Caroline?" Elena demanded as soon as she entered.

Klaus had to suppress a groan and Rebekah luckily answered for him.

"She should be back shortly," she said stepping up to them slowly. "I don't know if Klaus explained… _I'm _Rebekah. I'm, well, temporarily not in my own body, it's a-"

"Another problem you want me to fix?" Bonnie snapped.

"Well, we're always open to suggestions," Rebekah answered with a dry laugh.

"Let's just get started on Kol," Stefan said. "We should look like we're working when Caroline gets back."

* * *

And of course she came back making a _huge _scene. Klaus was grinding his teeth before she even opened the door; he could hear her and some _boy _guffawing on the walk up.

She stumble in on high heels, barely able to hold herself or the intoxicated young man up while they laughed. Even this early in the morning, it was unsurprising. You could always find people drinking at any hour in NOLA.

"Caroline!" he shouted, standing up and fighting the urge to walk over and violently shake her, "What is _wrong_ with you?"

She laughed up at him. "I'm high as a Georgia Pine, baby!" she responded, and he rolled his eyes. Of course she was.

Sure enough, he glanced down to her hand where she was holding some hand rolled concoction; he didn't smell anything more distasteful than grass or tobacco, luckily. Over his shoulder she finally noticed the rest of the group with ancient texts spilled out across the table.

"_Great_, the Scooby Squad has arrived," she said. "Ha, that's actually a pretty apt analogy. Damon, you're Shaggy. Bonnie is obviously Velma cause she figures everything out. Elena is Daphne cause everyone has a freaking hard on for her and, Stefan is Fred. Cause basically all he needs to do is stand there and look pretty. There is no Scooby. Scooby's dead."

"Caroline, get this _thing_ out of my home," Klaus ordered, gesturing to the drunk college kid and trying very hard to ignore the fact that she'd just referred to Stefan as _pretty_.

"Hey!" she objected. "I haven't eaten him yet!"

"W-what?" the boy asked, standing up straighter and slowly backing away. "You're going to _eat _me?"

Klaus groaned and grabbed the young man's shoulders. "Leave, forget you ever met this girl. Go home and sleep, when you wake up you'll think you blacked out and are hung over."

In a trance, the boy stood and left the house.

"Klaus! He was hard to get back here!" she complained, punching him in the arm to which he only smirked at her.

"Holy cow, aren't you two just the happiest… most evil couple on the planet," Damon joked dryly from the other room.

"We _do _sort of have a Morticia-Gomez thing going on, don't we?" she asked, almost entirely for the purpose of humiliating Klaus. He had closed his eyes and his hands were fisted tightly. Oh yeah, it was working. Now that she'd thought of it, she _really _wished she'd thought to yell _'You will rue the day you invited them into this house!' _the previous evening.

"Seriously, Care?" Elena asked. "I know your humanity is off but hooking up with Klaus? That's just depraved."

"Hey! I have not slept with him," she defended.

"Really?" Bonnie asked, not believing her.

"Well, it's not for lack of trying…"

"Wait, what?" Damon asked. "_He's _not sleeping with _you?_"

"Well don't rub it in, asshole!" she shouted at him. Beside her Klaus was fuming and it made her feel a smidge better. _Rue the day! _she thought.

"Okay, I'm not really sure why we need to be getting into this," Stefan finally piped up, although he had to admit he found it encouraging to learn that she was basically just using Klaus for a place to crash.

"Uh oh, jealousy is already brewing!" Caroline trilled. "This isn't looking good you guys."

"Can we just get back to work?" Rebekah asked, interceding.

"You all are such bores," Caroline lamented. "Come get me when Klaus and Stefan are about to have their first pissing contest." She said and made her way out onto the patio in the middle of the compound.

* * *

**So that was one of my shorter updates but, that was a good end scene for a chapter. If I'd pushed on to my next planned scene it would have gone way longer than I'd like for a single chapter. But hopefully it will be up tomorrow! Encouragement from you all is always appreciated. :D Huge thanks, especially, to readers who've checked in with me to leave a note multiple times. Love following your guys' thought processes on all this as the story progresses!**

**Just a note on my replies to reviews… if it's a question important enough to warrant an explanation for everyone I'll post the response here. Otherwise, questions will be private messaged. **

**And, the_ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT_: It's not that big, you knew it was coming. I plan to bump up the next chapter to an M rating, so if you've been keeping up with this story just by browsing the main TVD page, now would be the time to follow to keep getting updates. Hope everyone is excited! **


	6. Taking Persephone

**Reminder: **This chapter contains mature content.

_**6**_

_**Taking Persephone**_

Klaus didn't have much input on their quest to rescue Kol. He had always left such dealings up to the witches before and now was no exception. He'd always been more of the driving catalyst behind big plans like these, not so much one of the main engineers. Right now, though, he was standing in the room with Rebekah and all of Caroline's old friends, staring through the window at Caroline.

In turn, the new guests were watching Klaus, disturbed by his obsession. Even if they did get their old friend back, would Klaus let her go?

She was sunbathing again and, much to the disgust of Elena and Bonnie, she'd had Klaus call in a couple willing humans to serve as her refreshments throughout the day. They were being paid well and Klaus was keeping a watchful eye out to make sure she didn't kill any of them. It had been trouble enough covering up the mess she'd made in Atlanta.

Outside the window, Caroline sat up from the chaise lounge she'd been tanning on and got up. She was making a circle around the garden path of the patio, looking bored.

"You know," Damon called from the table, "Windows aren't one-way mirrors. She can _see _you staring at her."

"I'm well aware of how windows function, Damon," he spat. "Now kindly keep your mouth shut unless you have anything useful to tell us." _Besides_, he thought to himself_, she likes being watched. _

Rebekah had been talking over her body switch with Bonnie. The two were deep into conversation about Eva Sinclair and the flashes of her life that Rebekah would see on and off.

"As fascinating as all of that is, Rebekah," Damon said. "We came here on a different mission and we just want to get it done and get out. We're not really here to help _them_."

Bonnie looked up, frowning at being snapped at but conceded to his point. "Alright, well does anyone have any suggestions?" she asked. "How do we go about approaching Caroline?"

"I say we send in Stefan," Elena voted and immediately Klaus had turned away from his spot at the window to snarl at the group.

"_He'll stay the bloody hell away from her," _he hissed.

Elena stood from her spot at the table to circle over to Klaus getting right in his face.

"Klaus, do you want her to turn it on or not?" she demanded. "You said we had a deal."

"That deal never included allowing Stefan Salvatore to try to abscond into the sunset with what's _mine_," he railed.

"She isn't an object!" Bonnie insisted, inserting herself into the argument.

Klaus glowered. Was he really getting into an argument over _semantics? _

"Look, we don't _have _any other ideas," Stefan said. He'd been making a point of _not _reminding Klaus he existed, not wanting a repeat on the vervain torture but, he had to speak up about this. "Besides, if I go in there trying to profess my love she's gonna see right through it. I'd have to use a different tactic."

Everyone was looking at Klaus, poised to see how he would respond. He was pacing, mulling the idea over. Finally he faced Stefan expectantly.

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

* * *

The sun was beginning to set and a light chill was actually setting in. Caroline, stood to pull a jacket on over her bare shoulders.

She honestly couldn't believe it. They had been in their _all _day and no one had come to bother her, not once. Apparently their little bargain with Klaus was legitimate. But just as she had the thought, Stefan walked through the door to the patio.

"Hey," he called out.

"What do you want?" she responded warily.

"No tricks," he promised, holding up a couple of rocks glasses, "Just an invitation to drink."

She accepted one of the glasses from his hands. "Where's everyone else?" She was still skeptical.

"Wrapping up and getting ready to leave," he said. "You should come with us. Show Elena and Bonnie the town."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, fetching some whiskey from the small bar kept out on the patio.

"Hey, maybe you don't remember but we had some pretty good times back in Mystic Falls," he said. "We still like to party."

"I don't think we go to the same type of parties anymore," she said.

"Try me," he pushed.

Caroline sighed and rolled her eyes, watching him pour out two fingers for both of them.

"Klaus said part of your deal was to _not _mess with me-"

"Caroline," he interrupted. "We're honestly not. It's just an invitation."

"Does Klaus even know you're out here?" she asked. She didn't think he'd be too happy about her being alone with Stefan. Not that she cared what he thought, she had no obligations to him. It was just… curious. Suspicious, more like it.

"If he did I don't think I'd be standing here," Stefan laughed. "He left a little while ago. So are you in?"

Caroline looked over his shoulder, into the house where Bonnie and Elena were shrugging on light jackets. Well if they wanted a taste of the lifestyle she was living… she was sure she could make the evening entertaining. Maybe even entertaining enough to persuade them to leave.

She set down her glass after swigging it down and brushed past Stefan.

"Come on, losers," she called out. "We're going out and you better be ready to go hard."

A few minutes after they were out the door, Klaus reappeared from upstairs and sought out Rebekah.

"I take it that it worked, then?" he asked his sister.

Rebekah nodded. "She's going to try to get rid of them tonight, I expect but, she'll have a hard time of it. They've really dug their heels in."

"Yes," he replied. "Perseverance _has _always been their most annoying quality. Let's go, I want to keep eyes on this outing myself."

* * *

Caroline still had no intention of leaving New Orleans any time soon. In truth, she'd grown to feel as if the city were home very rapidly. And though, she'd doubtless leave to travel at some point, she suspected she would always find a reason to return, even if it was after a century.

In knowing this, for purely practical reasons she was learning the rules of the city — what Klaus professed kept life smooth for all of them there. If she had any urges for true debauchery, she could always leave the city, which is exactly what she did tonight. Some of the local haunts in rural Louisiana could be incredibly depraved and dilapidated, she had seen the day she left the city to visit Atlanta. And, at the events she'd attended with Klaus, she's heard other vamps discussing certain spots. With her virtuous "friends" with her, now seemed possibly the best time to check them out.

She strolled into what was basically a modern day speakeasy, the rest of them trailing her, located in a multistoried basement beneath an abandoned building in a small, dangerous looking town half an hour outside the city. It was half strip-club-gone-wrong, half local haunt that looked the other way for vampire clients willing to pay — and Caroline was going to get her money's worth out of these patsies.

The club was dark and a questionable looking stripper danced half-heartedly grinding up and down a lone poll on a makeshift stage in the middle of the room. Behind the bar, there wasn't a menu because all that was up to buy was moonshine.

"Who's got the first round?" Caroline asked expectantly, turning to face the group making unpleasant expressions as they took in their surroundings.

Damon took out a ten dollar bill and slapped it on the bar, where a man missing far too many teeth brought out five glasses and a jug of clear liquid, sloshing a small portion into each glass. Caroline picked hers up and swallowed it down, not caring about the putrid taste or the bite. Bonnie visibly sputtered and even Stefan shook his head after swallowing. Only Damon swallowed it as easily as she had.

"What exactly are we supposed to do here?" Damon asked. "This place isn't exactly hoping."

"Hey!" Caroline shouted to the bartender to get his attention, "We need a key for the back."

"Sixty bucks," the man replied and Caroline turned back to the group with her palm outstretched. Bonnie rolled her eyes and took out her wallet, handing Caroline three crisp twenties.

Grabbing a key from the bartender, Caroline led them all backstage. There were guards standing back there, by a row of doors leading to private rooms. Caroline checked they key which had the number 2 stamped on a tag dangling from it. Flashing it to the guards, she led them into a dingy room laid out like the typical VIP rooms in strip clubs where you could get a private show. The wall of the room was lined by a huge booth seat for all of them. In the middle of it, there was a raised table with a strip pole. There were dark stains all over the booth.

"Seriously, Care?" Bonnie asked. "You took us to a strip club?"

"Just wait," Caroline said when the door opened and a waitress entered to silently deposit several unlabeled beer cans in front of them. "We'll need two," Caroline told her and the woman nodded mutely.

Music with a heavy bassline was pumping in from speakers around the room and Caroline was pleased to see how uncomfortable her companions looked. It was only going to get better from here.

A few minutes later, the door opened and a scantily clad man and woman entered the room, dancing to the music. Hopping up on the table in the center of the room, they started to disrobe each other in front of them. Caroline propped her feet up the table, watching with cool eyes.

Damon and Stefan exchanged looks. They had heard of particular clubs down south… and they were pretty sure they knew what was going to happen next.

Sure, enough, from the neck of her knee-length stiletto heels, the female stripped bent down to remove a small knife. Caroline broke out into a smile. The female stripper seductively trailed the weapon softly up and down the curves of her exposed chest and then that of her dancing partners. Up and down, back and forth, just barely pushing into the skin, not even scratching it.

Then, in an abrupt movement, the stripper flicking the knife downwards, harshly, leaving a deep red cut down the pec of her partner's chest. He was stony faced, even as blood started dripping down his abs. He took the knife from his partner and pulled out her arm, holding it wrist upwards. Slowly and sensually, he pulled the blade deeply along the underside of her arm. Bonnie was visibly wincing and Damon was watching her with concern. This was one thing for a bunch of vampires to sit in on but Bonnie was a human.

The cut on the woman's arm was vertical so, though she was bleeding deeply, the wound wouldn't kill her. She stepped off the table to stand over top Caroline in the booth, a leg on either side of the blonde. Turning her wrist upside down, she let her blood spill out onto Caroline's face. The blonde had her mouth open and her tongue out as if she was catching snowflakes. Bonnie gagged.

The man made his way over to Elena but she turned her face away.

"Not for me buddy, thanks."

Caroline, for one, was getting sick of this pre-show, though, and was ready to skip to the main event. Tugging the girl down, she lowered her fangs into her neck, drinking greedily and sloppily. Behind them, the man had cut another deep wound into himself, filling the air with the heady, rich scent of blood.

Caroline heard someone gag again, probably Bonnie, and the door open abruptly as someone rushed out.

"Bonnie!" Damon called and left behind her.

Caroline looked up from her feast to see everyone following the nauseous witch out. She rolled her eyes and took another long drink before tossing the stripper, still alive, aside and following them.

* * *

Outside, Klaus was in the parking lot with Rebekah watching the door to the basement.

"You should just go in," Rebekah said. They'd been sitting there for quite awhile and Klaus was just silently glaring.

"I need to trust that they're making progress with her. Getting her guard down," he said.

"So we should go home," she replied.

"But what if Salvatore is trying to win her over? He could be seducing her as we speak," he considered.

"So _go in_," Rebekah demanded.

Just then, though, the Bennett witch appeared from the door, running up to the parking lot with a hand over her mouth, Damon close on her heels. The second she stepped onto the pavement, she vomited all over the parking lot. Damon came up behind her, pulling back her hair from around her face and rubbing a back comfortingly. Klaus and Rebekah watched the whole scene play out from their car.

"Bonnie, it's okay. I know about these places," he said. "Vampires help run these joints. The employees are given blood after each session to heal them quickly."

"It's not that," Bonnie said, gagging and spitting as she got everything out of her system. "It's that anyone would _choose _to do that. And that Caroline wants to be a part of it."

Behind them, Stefan, Elena, and Caroline appeared from the basement. Caroline was wiping blood off of her chin.

"Bonnie are you okay?" Elena called.

"Get it together, Bon," Caroline, chided. "You've seen worse than that I know, I was there!"

"I think this is more a problem of… circumstance than squeamishness," Damon said.

Klaus could see from the car, Stefan was lagging behind the rest of them, watching Caroline from behind. His eyes never left the blonde's form, as if she were a riddle he was working very hard to solve. In a huff, he got out of the car.

"Leaving so soon, darling?" he called. "We thought we'd come to join you."

Rebekah rolled her eyes behind him, also leaving the car to walk up to the group.

"Bonnie can't handle the heat," Caroline called back to him, completely unsurprised by his sudden appearance. "The ways of the deep south are foreign to a girl from Ole Virginey. Why, she's practically a yank!"

Rebekah let out a small, snort of a laugh and Klaus cracked a smile.

"Can we go now please?" Bonnie asked looking up at Damon. "I think I'm just _done _for today."

He started to lead her back to the car, Caroline and Stefan following behind. Klaus caught Elena by the upper arm.

"Well?" he demanded. She shook her head in frustration.

"We just have to keep at it," Elena said. "When I had my humanity off… I withstood torture to keep myself that way. I never would have guessed that seeing my friend Matt die would finally be what made me crack but it did. Something will get to her. The emotions always find their way in."

"So today was a waste of time?" he asked, harshly.

"We made it a whole day without her running, or killing anyone, or insisting that we leave," she said. "I'd call that progress."

He nodded. "You'll be back first thing tomorrow morning," he said, shortly, and turned to walk away. "Caroline!" he called out across the parking lot. "We're going home now, ride back with us!"

Caroline shrugged, honestly wanting to get away from the Debbie Downer that was Bonnie Bennett and ran back over to Klaus's car.

"Shotgun!" she called, as she past Elena making her way back to the group's car.

"I'm already in the front seat!" Rebekah pouted, annoyed.

"_Rebekah," _Klaus said in a warning tone.

With an annoyed sigh she got out of the car and switched to the back seat. Caroline took her place up front with Klaus.

* * *

Once returned to The Abattoir, Rebekah excused herself to take the trolley to Marcel's apartment. Caroline had silently made her way into the kitchen after that where she was pulling whatever she felt like out of his fridge, including a carton of strawberries and a bottle of chilled white wine.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Klaus asked, leaning in the doorway to watch her and then turning on his heel to follow her when she made her way into the downstairs drawing room to sit. The table in the room was still overloaded with the books and notes they'd been leafing through that day.

"Are you kidding?" she asked. "We barely even got out before we were leaving. I guess it was fun watching Bonnie puke. That was kind of the whole point of taking them there."

"And seeing Stefan?" he asked, accepting when she offered him a glass of the wine. "How was that?"

She gave him a pointed look, standing to flip through some of the pages of a book they'd left out before walking in front of where he was seated and leaning against a wall.

"You know very well how tedious he can be," she said. "I mean, if he were still a ripper I'm sure we could have some fun."

He sat in silence for a moment, regarding her cautiously. She was staring back at him, her face emotionless. Klaus chanced a turn in conversation.

"At this point," Klaus said coolly, "I don't even have any idea who you'd choose if you turned it back on."

Caroline bit her lip briefly before taking a sip of her wine and setting it down on the side table next to his chair. "I think I do," she said.

He looked at her, completely suspicious. She was probably thinking of Salvatore but he let her continue.

"Let's just say that having all of my emotions turned off has been an introspective process," she said softly. "I think the old me spent _so_ much time worrying about everyone else that she never really stopped to think about what would actually be best for herself or even what she actually wanted."

"And what do you think she actually wanted?" he asked.

"To be free. To see the world. And, for once, not to be somebody's second or third pick, not to be _not _Elena," she said. "I think I wanted to find someone who just loved _me_."

Klaus was practically holding his breath. She didn't say anything else. She was just holding their eye contact steadily, both skittish of the other. He couldn't hold back and let out a hollow sort-of half-laugh before replying.

"Surely, Caroline, you must realize that you're describing me," he said.

"I know," she replied, steadily, waiting to see what he'd do. She was still guarded.

But he didn't have a second thought once she'd said that. He stood up from his chair and had her in his arms immediately, pressing his mouth down onto hers fervently. She kissed him back, lifting her hands to rest on his face, pulling him into her before stepping back, just for a second to speak.

"That day," she began. "Back in the woods. Do you remember what you said to me?"

"I remember all of it," he breathed back. They were still close enough that their foreheads were touching, her hands now resting on his chest. He was already hard, dammit. He couldn't keep holding himself back. Not when she was _here_ and so willing.

"Well, what you said... about the darkest parts of me caring for you, despite everything you've done," she said. "I think that's why I'm here now. All thats _in _me right now... are the dark parts."

This was the most emotional conversation he'd had with her since she had arrived. Was she turning her humanity back on? He almost couldn't dare to believe it but, in this particular moment, he convinced himself that he needed to. He certainly hadn't ever felt like he needed something so badly in his life.

He pressed his lips to hers again and lifted her up, grabbing her tight little ass as he did. She groaned in satisfaction against his lips. He was backing them onto the table where they'd been leafing through ancient magic texts earlier that day. Blindly sweeping out a hand while he continued to kiss her, moaning when she slipped her tongue into his mouth only to hear her return the appreciative sound, he cleared a stack of books off of the desk and onto the floor. He sat her down on top of it and she pulled him closer to her by grabbing the front of his shirt.

Roughly, he pushed her legs open with his hand, situating himself between them and cupping her through her shorts. _Fuck_, she was warm. With his other hand, he pulled back on her hair to tilt her head back so he had access to her neck, kissing up and down, almost to her chest, flicking out his tongue to get a taste of her.

"I'm going to fuck you senseless," he growled into her ear when he'd made his way back up to kiss her. Caroline wasn't sure anything had ever sounded so sexy in her life.

He pushed her down, so she was lying down on the table with her legs dangling off. He slid hands down her body while they kissed, relishing in how she writhed beneath him. Reaching her shorts, he undid the clasp and she bucked her hips up compliantly so he could slide them off. Through her panties, black and lacy and contrasting deliciously with her milky white skin, he stroked a finger up her slit making her arch her back and cry out his name.

"Klaus, just fuck me!" she demanded.

He smirked and tore the flimsy scrap of material that made up her panties off with an easy, practiced flick. Grinning up at her wickedly, he didn't take off any of his own clothes, he just dipped down his tongue.

"Oh fuck, Klaus!" she shouted, surprised when his tongue came down to trace the length of her slit before swirling around her clit.

"Klaus, yes!" she cried out as he continued to tease her, his tongue darting back and forth across her clit.

She was, quite literally, _clawing _her nails across his back as she squirmed. He sucked her sensitive bud into his mouth. Immediately, she cried out, in no language he was familiar with and and she arched her back again. He left her clit, only momentarily, to tear off every button that was covering her chest.

Upon ripping the last button, her breasts burst forth, still contained by a demi-cup bra. He pushed the left strap and cup down, to swirl his tongue around her nipple. She had her hands in his hair, mewling deliciously as he teased her chest. Not satisfied that she still wasn't completely unclothed, he slipped a hand beneath her back and snapped off her bra, removing it from her lithe frame and throwing it across the room.

He paused to stare down at her, now bare, groaning at the site of her — flushed, hair already a mess.

"You are _too _beautiful," he breathed out, inhaling deeply to take in the scent of her.

Not content to wait even a moment, Caroline sat up to press herself flush against him and kiss him. He took her breasts in his hands, tweaking her nipples and smiling when she moaned and pressed herself more forcefully into him. Her hands were working their way down his chest, undoing the buttons on his shirt and he helped her by shrugging it off when she had finished.

Now it was her turn to pause appreciatively, pulling back to trail her fingers down his well-defined chest and abs, making him shudder when she did. The dark veins beneath her eyes were appearing now and she surprised him when she latched onto his neck and bit him _hard. _He let out a strangled _"Oh, fuck," _and felt his cock twitch in his pants as she drank from him.

She was going at him with abandon, her hands trailing down to his pants while she drank, unlatching first his belt and then the buttons of his pants. She pushed his pants down with his boxers, grasping his length as soon as he stepped out of everything. He growled when she did. the jolt of pleasure at the feel of her small hands working him was instant. He grabbed her wrists to stop her and she looked up from draining him questioningly. His blood was still covering her lips and he kissed her, tasting himself there.

She made a move to take his cock again but he pushed her back down onto the table, kissing down her chest and stomach to bring his mouth between her legs again. He swirled his tongue inside of her to make sure she was wet and she cried out in pleasure. He needn't have worried; he replaced his tongue with a finger, curling it against her g-spot.

"_Klaus, please!" _she gasped out.

She was _dripping_, ready for him. Abruptly, he flipped her over so she was bent over the table, feet on the floor, and he slammed inside of her from behind.

That satisfaction was intense and immediate. Caroline could already feel the muscles inside of her beginning to clench in an anticipation. How was it so good? And how was it this easy? None of her past sexual encounters, even in committed relationships, had ever been anything like _this. _

Still pounding into her, pleased by how she met his every thrust, Klaus bent down only to wrench her torso up so they were both standing while took her from behind. Clasping her to him with an arm wrapped around her and pawing at her chest, he inclined his head towards her neck and bit into her soft skin.

"Fuck, yes," she cried. Her orgasm was building, the feel of him drinking from her was turning her on even more than she already was.

He was drinking from her much more gently than she had from him, though he knew that with his blood in her system there was no way for her to get hurt. He dropped his hand from her chest and slid it between her legs, flicking at her clit from the front while he fucked her.

That was it; Caroline was done for. She came _hard _as his fingers toyed with the sensitive bud, not letting up as the waves of her orgasm crashed around her. Her knees actually _buckled _and he held her up, smiling as he stopped drinking from her, concentrating hard not to come himself. The feeling of her walls fluttering in pleasure around him was heaven.

"Oh god, Klaus!" she screamed as she reached the peak of her orgasm and started to come down, aftershocks still coursing inside of her.

He pulled out but only for a split second to flip her again so she was facing him and lying on the table. He had blood on his face now too and Caroline swore she almost had to look away it turned her on so much. He lifted her legs so they were draped over his shoulders, her body bending easily, and he thrust inside of her again.

"Tell me you came here to see me!" he insisted in a low voice, the words coming out strained and punctuated as the feel of her started to overwhelm him.

"I came to see you…" she whimpered out, pleasure starting to overtake her a second time. _Whatever he needs to hear_, she thought, followed by_, But it's true. Isn't it? _Whatever doubts were racking her mind were quickly wiped out when Klaus started _really _picking up his pace. He was pounding into her _hard_ and hitting _that spot_ again and again and again. She was _so _close. "I came here for you!" she cried out again.

When he hit that point inside her again, her second orgasm finally exploded. Moaning and writhing underneath him, he came a second later with a strained _"Fuck, Caroline!" _before releasing her legs so he could lay on top of her.

Both sweaty and still gasping, they lay for a second, tangled in one another. Caroline's aftershocks were pulsing around his still-hard cock. After a moment, he slipped out of her and lay down on the table next to her, pulling her into his arms in a tight embrace and kissing her again and again. _Don't leave me, don't leave me, _was the refrain endlessly running through his mind.

In his arms, Caroline rolled over to reach out on the table and grab at a pack of smokes she had lying there. She lit one and took a long drag. She'd never smoked after sex because, well, before now she had never been a smoker. But _God_, there was a reason the post-coital cigarette was such a standard cliche.

"Well, you really didn't hold out very long," she commented, dryly, blowing out a puff of smoke. "I mean, I only had to wait a few days."

So she hadn't turned it back on. He'd known that, he supposed, he'd just chosen to live for a moment in willful ignorance. He watched her but didn't say anything, unable to help the swell of sadness he felt at the realization that what they'd just done had meant absolutely _nothing _to Caroline.

In the hallway next to them, they heard the front door click open.

"Niklaus?" a voice called out. It was Elijah.

Klaus's brother ducked his head into the room where they were still lying side by side and grimaced before turning his back to them.

"Klaus!" Elijah chided while Caroline laughed. "I'd expect this behavior from Caroline but really Klaus, have some decency."

"Hey man, when it happens, it happens," Caroline said behind them as she crossed the room to pick up the bra Klaus had thrown while pulling on her shorts. She'd have to go put on new underwear. Finding the torn, lace scrap she threw it at Klaus, hitting him square in the face. "Here, souvenir."

He still hadn't said anything to her and Caroline could tell he was upset about _something_. Couldn't a guy just be appreciative that he had gotten laid? She did notice that he tucked her ripped panties into the pocket of his slacks though.

When they'd finished dressing, Caroline left the room and Elijah turned to enter it. The brothers listened to her footsteps go up the stairs and heard her shut the door to her room.

"Well, Klaus, that appeared to be a mildly uncomfortable post-coital scene," Elijah commented, sensing the tension as soon as he'd seen them.

"_Shut up," _Klaus spat and stormed out of the room.

With a sigh, Elijah looked at the wreck they'd made of the library. Why did he find himself so frequently left with Klaus's messes? He'd have to start staying in Algiers again.

* * *

**Blah, first smut scene! That's the first one I've actually ever written. I've intimated a lot in other stories but never anything to warrant a mature rating. It's kinda unavoidable in the Klaroline fandom, though, haha. Nervous to see what you all think of it!**

_**Really**_** wanted to title this chapter **_**The Rape of Persephone **_**but that sex scene was every kind of consensual. There will definitely be more smut (And fluff! I promise!) in future chapters but I don't think I'd ever write and legitimate rape scene. There's a time and place for that in super dark fics but, yeah, I'm not feeling that. **


	7. She Ate Six Seeds

**Author's note - minor TVD episode 17 spoilers: **So there has been a bit of conflict with how I'm portraying Caroline. Most of you seem on board but a few people have concerns. My view had been, until yesterday, that we only had one _full _episode of humanity-less Caroline so I had pretty free reign to make it up as I pleased, cause we didn't know yet what the show planned to do. Well, as of this episode, she's toned it down _a lot. _She's still playing it smart but she isn't doing _anything _at all vicious. I just really don't buy that humanity-less Caroline would care _that _much about finishing college in Virginia to get a drama degree that she'd play nice for a whole year. I also don't think she'd ever become as bad as Stefan though, even though they kind of hinted at the end of that episode that she might. I prefer that the Ripper remains his own, personal, brand of viciousness. So all that being said, I plan to carry on as I have been — with Caroline somewhere in the middle of her toned-down version in ep. 6.17 on the show and the intensity that is Stefan's Ripper. Take it or leave it cause I'm sticking with it.

Also, you might notice, this story is taking place just _a bit _in the past… for purposes of Mardi Gras! ;)

_**7**_

_**She Ate Six Seeds**_

"_I asked you if a man could be forgiven," — Leonard Cohen, "Iodine"_

* * *

As promised, Caroline's concerned former friends arrived at The Abattoir first thing in the morning as they had the previous day. Caroline was sleeping in so, it was Klaus who was left with delightful task of welcoming them in.

"Where's Rebekah?" Bonnie asked when they entered the room we're their books were still out, albeit now stacked on the table instead of laid out with pages marked… or on the floor.

"She won't be joining us today," Klaus said. "She has plans with Elijah to take care of some… family business." He declined to mention anything about their recently reappeared "sister," Freya.

"Whatever, it's not like this is really about finding Kol anyway," Damon commented, plopping down into one of Klaus's plush leather chairs.

Just then, they heard someone coming down the stairs. Caroline rounded the corner, frowning.

"What does _that _mean?" she asked Damon. Klaus swore internally.

"Just that this whole thing is _obviously _more about getting Rebekah back in her body," Elena said, stepping in with a quick lie.

"And don't you need Rebekah for that?" Caroline asked, still suspicious.

"Not while we don't have a clue how to fix it," Bonnie said, throwing her bag down on the table and picking up a thick text as she sat down. "Are you actually gonna _help _today?"

Caroline snorted. "Uh, consider me here for emotional encouragement," she said, standing up on her tip toes to kiss Klaus on his cheek, surprising all of them.

"Right, cause emotions are totally your thing these days," Stefan said, taking a seat next to Bonnie.

Caroline made an exaggerated _"Who? Me?" _expression and pointed to herself. And then she slapped Klaus on the ass, making him noticeably flinch in shock, inclining his head to look at her with a puzzled expression. Damon blinked in surprise, exchanging an annoyed look with his brother.

"I'm gonna get some breakfast. _Really_ worked up an appetite last night, _if you know what I mean_," she said, lowering her voice comically for that last bit. She looked to Klaus. "Want anything?"

He was staring back at her, completely bewildered by this new turn of behavior.

"Er, yes? Alright," he stammered out and she flashed him a smile before heading off to the kitchen. _What was she up to now? _

"_Klaus!" _Elena whispered angrily once the blonde was out of earshot. "Did you- did you… oh, you _know!_ Did you?"

Bitter as he was over everything right now, he couldn't help but smirk. The expression was answer enough and Elena laid back into him.

"Seriously! Are you even trying? You can't just give her what she wants!"

Klaus smiled easily and took his own spot at the table. "Really?" he asked her, "Because so far, nothing else has even come close to working. I'd say everything is worth a shot."

Elena glared at him but didn't press the argument. She didn't have to. Klaus was well aware that she was all too right.

* * *

Klaus was frustrated over how the previous evening had ended but he was finding it difficult to direct this frustration at its source. He'd had her mere hours ago but, as Klaus watched Caroline in the study, he was reminiscing about their time in the woods instead. That would likely be his fondest memory of her, for the rest of time, if she really never turned her emotions back on.

He remembered how she'd smiled at him after she'd first kissed him that day, the very _real _emotion in her eyes. She had genuinely cared for him then.

And after, they had laid in the grass in the woods, on top of all their clothes, tucked into one another like real lovers. She had been a little shy after it was all over and he'd thought it the most charming thing in the entire universe.

He was mentally slapped by the memory of her frank reaction after they'd fucked — definitely _not _made love — last night. _'Well, _you _didn't hold out long…'_

Still, despite all his reservations, Caroline was playing him well in the meantime and the fact that he could see what she was up to did nothing to make her less successful. She was _rewarding _him for giving into her last night, now playing the part of an overly demonstrative sweetheart — petting him and kissing him and holding his hand.

She'd made them both french toast and brought it in with orange juice. At some point, she'd obviously snuck into his room because she was wearing one of his collared shirts open and with the sleeves rolled up, over top of a camisole. She sat down next to him, wearing his clothes and eating breakfast like it was something she did every morning.

And she was doing all of it in front of Stefan Salvatore, a fact that simultaneously greatly pleased and annoyed him. Stefan looked quite uncomfortable with the whole display and Klaus noticed him watching Caroline almost constantly. But, at the same time, it was more than obvious that her charade was at least in part because she _wanted _to make Stefan squirm.

In truth, there was an even deeper level to her manipulation. It wasn't just about making Stefan uncomfortable but all of them. She wanted them to know it was hopeless. She wasn't going to turn her humanity back on. What better way to send that message than by dating the Original Hybrid, evil incarnate himself?

That waswhy she'd sought him out in the first place. As it, quite unluckily, turned out: Klaus had morals. Hence why she wasn't _really _dating him.

And Klaus, as suspicious over her every move as he was, couldn't bring himself to _not _enjoy all the attention. Whenever the Mystic Falls team had sent Caroline out in the past to distract him, he'd been well aware what she was doing. He'd chosen to look the other way and enjoy his time with her then, too.

Although now he wasn't really with _her_, though you'd never know it with the indulgent show she was putting on for her friends today. Right now she was sitting on the arm of his chair, holding one of his hands in her lap while absentmindedly playing with his hair. He leaned his head into her side, breathing her in, and she looked down at him with what anyone might have thought was a genuine smile.

"Half of the resurrection spells I'm even finding look like bull," Bonnie complained, shutting another heavy book. "Or they have unrealistic requirements… waiting for the next passing of a comet that only comes round once every 25 years or something unhelpful like that."

Klaus _was _concerned about bringing Kol back but he was more concerned with getting Caroline back. Besides, Davina had a one track mind when it came to Kol. He was sure the fact that he hadn't seen her recently was indicative of her being hard at work. Unfortunately, either way, with Caroline glued to his hip today it didn't seem that they'd get any time to strategize.

"I'm definitely not working on this project for 25 years," Damon muttered, sending Elena a pointed glare. He wasn't talking about bringing Kol back.

Caroline was standing up and walking around the table towards the door of the room, well aware that both Klaus and Stefan's eyes were following her. When she got to the door she turned back to look purposefully at Klaus and then walk out the room. He waited less than a minute before he got up and followed her.

"Wow," Damon deadpanned once Klaus had left the room. "Discreet."

* * *

He found her in the kitchen where she immediately pulled him to her by his shirt, briefly disconnecting so she could hop up on the counter and pull him in between her legs, wrapping them around his waist.

He kissed her back for a moment but ultimately pushed her back by the shoulders and gave her a serious stare.

"Caroline, darling," he said, "There are a group of people in my home right now whom I do not entirely trust."

"Yeah, about that, it still just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Why are they really here?" she asked.

Klaus cursed at himself mentally. He really just should have kept kissing her.

"Rebekah requested their help for both Kol's sake and hers," he replied. "Your friend Bonnie has been extremely valuable in the past."

"Uh huh," Caroline replied, nodding like she was taking all this into careful consideration but she already knew something, "But that _can't _be what happened because Rebekah wasn't _at _the party the night you caught them… and you'd made a deal with them before we even got back here."

Klaus didn't reply so she jumped down from the counter to stand in front of him. She wrapped her arms around him and looked up at him.

"Come on, Klaus," she said. "I know what's going on. You're working with them to try to get my humanity back on."

He didn't reply but looked steadfastly away and she sighed with sarcastic disappointment. And then, he couldn't believe what she had the balls to try next.

Moving at top speed, Caroline broke their intimate embrace and made a motion to grasp his head in a blatant attempt to snap his neck. Her skill was impressive but he was a great deal quicker and more experienced than she, his reflexes were better. He had snatched both of her wrists as she made the move, working so quickly in reaction himself that he accidentally bent her wrist back at an angle that he did not intend. There was a sickening snap.

Caroline was shockingly stoic. She screwed her eyes shut like a child receiving a shot and then let out the quietest of pained groans.

"_Motherfucker," _she hissed out at him and stormed from the room.

"Caroline! Caroline, I'm sorry, it was an accident," he called after her following her back into the study.

Her old friends were looking up, curiously, to discover the source of the commotion.

"Look what he did to me!" she called, holding up her awkwardly bent wrist.

Stefan stood, taking a look at the injured limb before quickly snapping it back into place causing Caroline to bite back another curse and the urge to yelp.

"Jesus, Klaus, what did you _do?" _Elena asked, incensed.

"In my defense, she was trying to kill me!" he yelled.

"You're _immortal _Klaus," Elena snapped.

"Please, it's just a broken wrist and it's already healed," he said.

Sure enough the skin of her wrist wasn't even bruised anymore.

"That's not the point," Caroline said. "The point is, _I _was just making good on a promise."

"A promise?" Klaus asked.

"You said that if anyone was trying to turn my humanity back on, you'd personally rip their throats out and I said that included you," she said. "Well, I tried you but there are four other people here and they still have throats."

"Caroline, what are you talking about?" Bonnie asked.

"Cut the crap, Bonnie. I know you're still here to turn my humanity back on," she said. "I figured it out!"

"Caroline, we're not giving up on you," Elena said, standing up, the cover-up forgotten.

"I'm touched," she said, void of inflection or expression. "But I'm gonna have to ask you all to get the hell out of town. If you don't, I'm going to find the nearest hospital… and I'm going to blow it up. You have an hour."

She vamp sped out of The Abattoir.

* * *

Inconceivably, they spent their first fifteen minutes arguing.

"Way to go, Klaus!" Elena yelled.

"Please, like she wasn't going to figure it out," Klaus defended. "We have no reason to need your help. There are plenty of witches in New Orleans."

"Will she actually do it?" Stefan asked. "She's been with you this whole time. You've gotta have some idea what she's capable of."

Klaus looked at them darkly. He didn't particularly care about a bunch of sick people that he didn't know, but this would be a huge mess to clean up for Caroline if she went through with it.

"She will," Klaus responded.

"Look, she just asked us to _leave _the city," Bonnie worked out. "She didn't say anything about _stopping_. Maybe we'd be better off working this out from Mystic Falls. We can keep in contact with Klaus, send him ideas from back home."

"I don't like the idea of leaving her here," Stefan answered. "Not with him."

Klaus growled at him. "Watch how you speak while you are in _my _home," he warned.

"I dunno Bon, I'm worried about giving up too. She needs to face a _real_ emotional obstacle," Elena said. "Something sudden, that's what got me."

"She didn't have a care in the world when I _suddenly _threatened to kill _you_," Klaus replied.

Elena glared. "I'm still betting that, deep down, she knew you wouldn't," Elena said.

"Or you're just not her emotional trigger," Damon said.

"That's why we've just got to keep trying. Why was Matt _my _emotional trigger and not Damon? Or Caroline, for that matter?"

"So, what? We keep setting up staged events where she thinks the people in her life are going to die?" Bonnie asked. "And in the meantime she blows up all the hospitals, and probably schools and animal shelters while she's at it, in the city."

"No, _I _think we have to send in Stefan to work on her one on one," Elena said. "But _some _people aren't willing to even consider that option."

"Fine," Klaus said, surprising them all.

He was taking a huge leap of faith. He was basing this decision entirely off of some of the things she'd said to him the previous evening, things that very well might not have even been true.

"Fine?" Stefan asked.

"You all get packed up and ready to leave," he said. "She'll come back to make sure you're really leaving. Stefan has _one _chance to give it a try. If it doesn't work, you _do _leave."

_At least this way, I'll know, _he thought. _Either way, I'll know. _

Stefan looked to the group for confirmation.

"I'm in," Damon said first.

Bonnie sighed. "Me too."

"Alright, let's call her," Elena said.

* * *

Caroline was shocked at how easy it was to make an explosive device. Stop by the local gas station and you were good to go. She was almost disappointed when her phone rang, wanting to try out the toy she'd just made.

"This is a pretty big hospital," Caroline said when she picked up the phone. "The staff on my floor are having lunch right now so I've got an entire ward to myself… to set up."

"Caroline," Elena said from the other end. "We're going to leave. Just come back and you'll see us go."

"Hmmm, I don't think so," Caroline said. "The thing is, when I'm over _here _I have all the power. When I'm back there, not so much."

"How will you know we've really left?" Elena asked, trying to goad her.

"Elena, please, it's 2015. There's technology. Facetime me while you cross the city border."

Caroline could here Elena pause, shuffling the phone as she spoke to someone on the other end.

"Caroline-"

"_Wait," _she interrupted. "I have a better idea. I want you to film Klaus compelling you to leave. I want to watch him order you _not _to interfere with my humanity again."

There was more shuffling on the other end and muffled discussion.

"That's quite a plan you've got, love," said a new voice at the end of the line, smooth and sexy.

"Klaus," she acknowledged.

"The thing is, Caroline, it's truly a lovely plan — quite ruthless, no apparent loopholes," he said. "But I'm only going to help you with it… if you come back home and speak with Stefan Salvatore first."

Caroline swallowed hard. Klaus was not like Elena or anyone else from Mystic Falls. Klaus would let her blow up the hospital as long is it allowed him to stick to his own agenda. But since when did that agenda make any room for Stefan Salvatore?

"Come on, darling," he enticed. "If you're really so sure you can keep your humanity on, what have you got to lose? I really will compel them to leave after he's had his say."

That got her. She really didn't believe Stefan could say anything to reach her. And it was a deal worth making if they left her and her lack-of humanity alone for the rest of eternity.

"Done," she said and snapped the phone shut.

* * *

She vamp sped her way back to The Abattoir where, sure enough, Damon was hauling a couple suitcases into Bonnie's Prius. Stepping up beside the car, Stefan was walking out the door of Klaus's home where Klaus himself was leaning in the entryway.

Bonnie and Elena had been following Stefan to the car with the last of their luggage but they stopped when they saw Caroline arrive, walking through the gate and up the driveway. They disappeared back into the house. Damon clapped Stefan on the shoulder briefly as he passed him on his way back in.

Klaus called out to the two of them before turning back inside, "You have ten minutes and not a second more, Salvatore."

Stefan nodded, holding Klaus's eye contact until the Original finally re-entered his home, closing the door behind him.

Caroline approached Stefan at the car, eyeing him warily.

"So, what was so important that it lead you to this deal with Klaus?" she asked.

He laughed, hollowly, "What do you think Caroline?"

"Then my hunch was right," she responded, already done with the conversation. "You want to profess your love."

He actually smiled at her in return, "Maybe a little more sincerely than that but, yes, in so many words."

She rolled her eyes, "Alright, just get this over with."

"Caroline, do you think things would be different right now if I had told you I loved you at your mother's wake?" he asked first.

_I do _not _wanting to be having this conversation_, she groaned internally.

"Of course things would be different, Stefan," she replied, honestly.

"I should have told you then," he said. "I do love you Caroline and I think we could have something… _really _big.

She could recall a conversation with him from years ago about Elena. She had told him that she thought she and Stefan had an epic love.

"I said things _would _be different, Stefan," she said. "Not that I wanted them to be. I don't feel anything for you anymore because I don't feel _anything _anymore, besides mildly annoyed or angry or threatened, but I think those things just stick around for survival's sake."

Stefan was remaining stoic as she kept talking but she could see how disappointed he was. _He really thought that would work_, she realized.

"Oh, and bored. I feel bored a lot," she prattled on. "But _that's _a survival instinct too! Cause you can _die _of boredom, get it?"

He nodded, completely unamused by her little quip, his jaw clenching before passionately stepping forward to take her face into his hands. "Come back to us, Caroline," he pleaded. She wrenched her face back, looking back into his eyes with her own dark ones. In a final bid, he pushed his lips to hers, locking in a searing kiss. She accepted it, of course — Stefan was a _good _kisser— but she still didn't _feel _anything in response. But she had known she wouldn't, so it didn't come as a surprise.

He pulled back from her, still holding her from behind her head. His eyes were searching hers.

"Klaus will be out here in about three seconds if you don't stop touching me," was all she said.

He sighed, disconnecting from her, pained. "So, you really want us to leave?"

She nodded back, "I really, _really _do."

Klaus was out in those three seconds anyway. Behind them, they must have have had spies that realized things were wrapping up because the doors opened and everyone stepped out.

In blind rage, without thinking, Klaus punched him hard in the face. Stefan groaned and they all heard his nose snap. Klaus made a move to go after him again but Bonnie sent out a surge of magic and the hybrid doubled back in pain.

"Get it together, Klaus," Bonnie yelled, releasing the hold on her magic. "_You _gave him this chance."

Klaus restrained himself, not responding but no longer going after Stefan either.

"Is that it?" Caroline asked Stefan. "We're all done here?"

Stefan shrugged before popping his nose back into place with a grimace. He was clearly in more duress over failing to reach her but unsure of what to do about it, "I guess so, Caroline!" He was mad, extremely, she could tell.

Bonnie was mad too. In a huff she breezed past all of them and opened the front door, saying to Caroling without facing her as she did, "I can't even _look _at you."

"Caroline-" Elena began but Caroline cut her off.

"Uh-uh, hold up. Klaus has some compelling to do, I believe!"

Klaus stepped up to Bonnie first, since she was already half-way into the car. Holding her by one shoulder, Caroline saw his eyes dilate while he stared into Bonnie.

"You will leave New Orleans," Klaus said, "And you won't do _anything _to interfere with Caroline's humanity in the future… that includes recruiting outside help."

Caroline wouldn't have put it any different if she'd been able to compel all of them herself. And after just a few minutes more of some greatly unenthused eye contact with everyone else, they were finally on the road and out of her life.

* * *

Klaus couldn't help himself once they'd gotten back inside. He had her in his arms and was kissing her hungrily. She responded but, only for a moment before pulling back, pleased to have the upper hand in this situation for once.

"I don't _think _so," she said. "You certainly weren't interested earlier today. Not to mention, I wasn't exactly happy with whatever little ploy _that _was — forcing me to talk to Stefan."

But he was not a man easily deterred, not right now, when he'd just conclusively learned that Stefan was not her emotional trigger. Grabbing her hand as she retreated he spun her back to him crashing their lips together. She was laughing now but kissing him back as she did or, trying to. Using his hybrid speed, he got them upstairs and pinned her beneath him on his bed.

He was holding her possessively, really holding her into the bed and forcing her to submit to his touch, his mouth fierce on hers. It wasn't unwanted, her teasing a moment ago now completely forgotten as he was using one strong hand to pin her small wrists above her head and was stroking the outside of her thigh with the other.

She was always wearing those _shorts_. He slid his hand to rub her inner thigh, steadily moving upwards.

"Let me go," she breathed out, indicating her hands above her head. "I want to touch you."

"_Not yet,"_ he growled, unhooking her shorts quickly and pulling them down her legs along with her panties. For at least a moment, yet, he wanted Caroline to be forced out of control and simply submit to the pleasure he would bring her. She was _always _fucking in control these days.

Caroline hissed at the contact of cold air when she was already so aroused when he'd finished slipping everything off of her. Keeping his one hand holding hers steadily down, he reached the other between her legs to feel how wet she was. She bucked upwards at the contact of his hand. He slowly parted her folds keeping the pad of his thumb pressed on her clit as he crooked his index finger inside of her. Caroline felt like she might have spasmed right off the bed if he hadn't been holding her down.

The man had slept with her two times and he already knew her body intimately.

And if she'd voiced that thought out loud, Klaus would have told her she had _no clue_. Working one finger inside of her for a minute, he then added a second digit, feeling her walls tense around him. In each of their times before, Klaus had cataloged every second in his memory — every expression, every sound, every response. He already knew _exactly _how to get her off but he didn't think he'd ever feel satiated, that he'd ever feel like he'd fully learned her.

"Klaus, please," she said, thrusting her hips forward to grind against his hand, pushing his thumb more firmly against her clit. It sent shockwaves of pleasure from her lower abdomen to her toes. He smiled as he pulled his hand back a fraction of an inch and she suppressed an agitated growl.

_Finally_, he let go of her hands, and she had her shirt off the same second. He unhooked her bra and pulled it off of her, depositing it on the floor. She took his hands herself and pressed them to her soft mounds and she started to take off his pants while he squeezed her dove-white breasts. He stood then, kicking off his shoes and trousers, then quickly throwing off his shirt, and finally taking of his boxers. He smiled when he saw her bite her lip appreciatively at the site of them.

She used her speed to flip them, throwing him to the bed — only because he was feeling indulgent — and moaned hoarsely as she slid down onto his length, setting a slow easy pace. Caroline threw her head back, taking him in deep slow thrusts. He reached up and took her breasts, playing with her nipples until he felt her muscles clench around him. _Fuck_, she was going so slowly.

He grabbed her hips, holding her still above him as he pounded into her, setting an insane and relentless pace.

"Klaus, I'm gonna-" She couldn't even finish the thought. He dropped one hand from her waist and pressed two fingers against her clit, flicking it again and again until he felt her come. She tensed on top of him screaming out a passionate _"God, Klaus!" _sucumbing to her orgasm.

He pulled her off of him and threw her to the bed, flipping her onto her stomach. She obligingly pulled herself to her hands and knees so that he could take her from behind. He was already reaching around front of her again to slide a finger against her still throbbing clit.

"Now, Caroline," he said from behind her, leaning down to press a searing kiss to the back of her neck before he thrust into her, "I think you can do better than that. One more time!"

* * *

In fact, it had been two more times. And now, he couldn't believe that she was still lying with him here in his bed. When he looked at her, her eyes were still dull and emotionless but, for the first time since she'd arrived, he found himself not _quite _as upset about it.

She had sent away Salvatore and all of her friends, actually. But she had stayed with him. He was guilty of the same crime as they; he wanted her humanity back on and she _knew _he did… but she stayed.

Currently, Caroline was propped up on her arm, looking at him from her side with a sly grin on her face.

"It's Spring Break, you know," she told him, "I knew when I came down here, Mardi Gras is on Tuesday."

"It is, indeed," he replied, lazily tracing a finger up and down the arms she was using to hold herself up, "Doubtless you plan to participate?"

She nodded, enthused. "But I need to get a proper outfit," she said. "A mask and everything."

"Of course," he said.

"And… I _vaguely _remember a time when you left me a message. Something about showing me the food and music and culture down here?" she asked. "You have yet to make good on that promise."

"Well, love, you have spent a fair portion of your time here running _away _from me," he reasoned. "But all the same, I'll take you out tonight. Come on, get dressed."

He pulled himself out of bed and walked to his closet.

* * *

**DianaDreamBug brought up a very interesting point in the comments that I think warrants some discussion. She suggested that she didn't think Klaus would ever be able to put Caroline first while Hope was alive. (She also came up with the term "discount Renesmee" which is just about the greatest thing anyone has said ever.) I think a lot of fans feel this way about the introduction of Hope and, as much as I really do hate the Hope-Hayley plot, I'm not sure I see it as ultimately standing in the way of Caroline and Klaus. Caroline, when she has her humanity turned on at least, is a pretty mature and compassionate character. I really don't think a baby would be a deal breaker for her. People get married to people that already have kids all the time. It's not a competition between your children and your spouse or about who gets put first. They're both put first because family comes first. And Klaus has a lot more depth to him than that, too. Anyway, that's basically my guiding thought process as I write and why I don't see the baby as being a completely incompatible part of the equation. Would love to hear what everyone else thinks!**

**Either way, I feel your pain. I've said it before, as a viewer I'd like to see Hayley and Hope die in a plane crash. As I writer, I can't seem to force myself to do it. Maybe I'll write a drabble where that happens for kicks. **


	8. Picking Narcissus

"_I think I'm in love but it makes me kind of nervous to say so," - _Think I'm in Love, _Beck _

_**8**_

_**Picking Narcissus**_

* * *

He'd obligingly taken her up and down Canal street first where she wanted to shop for the impending Mardi Gras parade the next day. She'd tried to buy beads but he insisted that she wouldn't need to buy them, everyone walked home overloaded with them by the end of the raucous parade. Instead she'd picked up a purple feather boa. He'd also made her hold off on buying a mask when she initially suggested a cheap, flimsy thing that didn't even cost five dollars. He could get her something much nicer than that.

It occurred to him that he hadn't actually taken the time to celebrate Mardi Gras in several years, he couldn't even remember how long it had been. He'd enjoyed it back in his most sinister days. But his recently life in New Orleans had been filled by so much genuine strife that he hadn't enjoyed his city for a while. Caroline was bubbling with excitement and he was somewhat swept up in her enthusiasm

Swept up in _her_, more like it. He had a feeling that with her humanity still off, she was really like a ticking time bomb and would inevitably cause him difficulties of some sort. But right now, with the world's most elaborate, decadent, and exoctic deversion less than 24 hours away, her only focus was clearly pleasure.

"Oh you're right, these really are much nicer," Caroline said as he took her into a store in the Quarter that sold masks — all types, from classic masquerade to towering feathered creations that were almost headdresses. Many were displayed on walls around the store but most were featured under glass displays, like jewelry.

"Have whatever you like," he told her, pressing a kiss to her temple and squeezing her to him with an arm. If he was going to follow her around like this, she could damn well let him delusion himself into thinking this was a normal, everyday occurrence for the two of them.

She pointed to a pink mask and an attendant pulled it out for her. She held it up to her eyes. It had intricate beads dangling as fringe from the bottom of the mask, partially obscuring her mouth.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think it would make it difficult to kiss you," he said.

She rolled her eyes, taking off the mask and handing it back, "Easy there, stud," she said, eyeing him warily. He just smirked back at her.

The attendant smiled at them, clearly finding them a normal, cute couple, "I have a few I think might suit you perfectly, she told Caroline, leading her to another display.

She tried on several more, including an intricate black lace mask and one covered in every square inch by pearls. He'd almost expected her to pick that one because of the price alone but she kept looking.

Finally she'd settled on a delicate creation made out of golden wire so fine it almost looked like spun thread. It twisted into the shape of a mask around her eyes like intricate filigree. He'd thought it an excellent choice.

After that, he'd finally convinced her to settle down enough to grab a bite to eat, pulling them into the nearest local establishment he knew she'd like.

"Well, I've got to hand it to you Klaus," Caroline said, sipping the wine that had just been delivered to their table, "You sure know how to wine and dine a girl. I mean, this has been one hell of a date."

"A date?" he asked her, wanting to hear her confirm it again. "Is that what we're on right now?"

"If it looks like a date and it sounds like a date," she said, trailing off to contemplate for a moment. "Guess it must be a date."

"In that case, love, I am happy to say that the evening is not over yet," he told her.

"Oh? What are we doing next?" she asked.

An appetizer of oysters on the half shell were placed in front of them.

"You'll see," he replied, mysteriously.

Because Klaus had made a point of knowing whatever he could about Caroline, he knew that she was a drama major in college. He took her to the Saenger Theatre after dinner which was currently hosting a production of _The Phantom of the Opera._ He found it perfectly fitting for their evening.

"Alright," she conceded with a smile after he compelled center seats for the two of them from the box office staff, "I won't lie. You're racking up some serious bonus points."

He just smiled and didn't tell her that, honestly, he didn't think of it that way. He just wanted to give her everything she wanted.

And he'd felt a surge of success swell within him when they had been watching the production. Caroline loved it and was clearly familiar with the musical. She mouthed along to every line, in every song. She would make the perfect Christine if she ever pursued the role.

She'd kissed him when they'd exited the theatre. Kissed him again on the walk home, several times. And now they were outside his front door, making out like two teenagers and having too much fun to open the door. But, finally, she pulled away from him and bit her lip.

"So, I'd say you have a 100% chance of getting lucky tonight," she said, smiling.

Klaus groaned, wanting to say yes to her very deeply. But it had been such a perfect evening and sleeping with Caroline far too often had the nasty repercussion of reopening his eyes to the reality of their situation. He wanted to preserve this evening, to leave on the rose-colored glasses a bit longer.

"Tomorrow is a big day," Klaus said, holding her at arm's length. "You should get your rest."

He abruptly walked past her and into the house, leaving her in front of the door wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Caroline usually slept in, but that morning she was up at 8 am, storming into his room with a clattering breakfast cart.

"Love?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes when she wrenched his curtain open, flooding the room with light. "As much as I appreciate breakfast in bed, is it really necessary to start this early?"

"This isn't breakfast in bed, you slacker," she chided, gesturing to the cart where he first noticed a big pitcher of bloody mary's. _"This _is pre-gaming!"

"Can I at least have some coffee first?" he asked.

She walked smartly over to the cart where a steaming kettle of coffee was waiting. She poured a cup for him and handed it over.

"Thank you," he said and prepared to take a sip.

"Wait, not yet!" she trilled and removed a flask from the cart. She unscrewed it and poured a shot of whiskey into his coffee. "There ya go!"

She turned to pour herself a bloody mary and then lifted a covered tray where she had warm croissants waiting. She tossed one to him.

"But, yeah, eat up too. Gotta plan this day right. Don't wantcha' _wussing out _on me too early," she teased.

"Yes, because that is certainly what I'm known for," he laughed back at her. "When people say Klaus Mikaelson it's usually followed by — _boy, now there's a man who can't hold his liquor worth a damn." _

She'd actually burst out laughing, hard, when he'd said that, ungracefully choking on her drink.

"I always _knew _you were a secret lush. Alright," she said. "Get dressed, we gotta get there early and get a good spot!"

When she found him again, she was dressed fit to kill. Well, for Mardi Gras, anyway. Any other day her outfit of an outlandish pink tutu skirt paired with her purple boa and a tight fitting black tank top would have been utterly garish. Still, Caroline had a way of pulling anything off. The golden mask he'd bought her the previous night was resting atop her face, elegantly tied behind her hair with a black velvet ribbon, sticking out in stark contrast to her golden locks.

Klaus, naturally had forgone dressing up and was wearing a navy t-shirt and jeans and sunglasses instead of a mask. Caroline didn't seem to care though and was anxiously hurrying him out the door. She'd poured them both bloody mary's in plastic cups to go, wanting to take advantage of the city's lenient public liquor laws, especially today.

The city was brimming with excitement and public indecency. Intoxicated men and women were everywhere, young and old alike, many of them urinating. But the whole affair had an upbeat feel to it and there were even children present on some of the less messy blocks; NOLA's famous hospitality was at it's maximum capacity today and people were already throwing beads to one another, strangers or not, on the street.

Soon enough they were assaulted by the ever increasing sound of people and then music. They could see the parade now, pushing their way up to the front. He could see she was practically vibrating in excitement. Ahead of them a brass band was dancing through the streets, blasting out incredible music. Following behind them was an enormous float, decked out with huge sparkling and spinning jester heads, as big as the performers dancing and throwing out beads on the float. It had been a particularly warm February and the crowds were dressed to match. Next to them, viewers were laughing as they sprayed each other with water guns.

She didn't need prompting. As soon as they'd made it to the front of the sidewalk to see the parade and a float passed them, this one made up to look like a giant snapping alligator, Caroline lifted her shirt, theatrically. Oddly, his first thought was a simple: _Oh, Caroline has chosen not to wear a bra today. _Immediately, a dozen or more strands of colorful beads were hurled her way. She caught a red one in her outstretched hand, exclaiming victoriously.

"_Caroline!" _Klaus chided, his eyes flashing with dark possessiveness.

"Oh no, you are _not _going to ruin this experience for me!" she insisted, slipping the red strand around her neck and holding it up to inspect it happily, "Everyone knows you have to _earn _your beads!"

She kept at it, too, apparently hell bent on doing the experience just right. To be fair, almost every woman on the street was participating — tradition was tradition. Not to mention, the rules that typically governed the world were all gloriously suspended for one day on Mardi Gras. It was a free-for-all, as long as you kept yourself in check and didn't do anything to sour the mood of the day for anyone else. It was an unspoken understanding between the people of New Orleans that everyone was expected to be chill on Fat Tuesday. And, in truth, despite the paranoia and jealousy that were eating at him every time he spied some other man getting his eyeful, he couldn't begrudge her this pleasure. He could see, she was falling in love with his city and it was embracing her in return.

Bothering him more was how distracted the momentary flashes of her exposed chest were making him. He was fighting every urge to pull her away from the parade and take her into an alleyway where he could enact every delicious torment he could think of on her perfect breasts until she was begging for him to have her, then and there. Unfortunately, he didn't suspect that Caroline would be wanting to leave anytime soon, not even for _that_. But, soon enough, Caroline was becoming so overloaded with strands of shining beads that she wasn't able to lift her shirt up any more, either way. Laughing as she caught another gold strand whizzing through the air, she started taking off dozens of strands at a time and began draping them all over him.

"It's raining _color!" _she yelled, gesturing to the air which was, indeed, awash in the frenzy of colorful beads being tossed everywhere from watchers on roofs, restaurant balconies, and the parade. He thought of everywhere else in the world he could take her to, to make her this excited again: Carnival in Rio, the Holi festival in India, the Lantern Festival in Thailand… Of course, she'd enjoy it so much more with her humanity on, but he wouldn't think on that now.

He couldn't help himself then — he grabbed her and kissed her, holding her to him by the back of her head. She responded instantly, slipping her tongue into his mouth first, making him moan right there on the street. Her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him down into her harshly. Their teeth clashed for a moment from the intensity of their kiss and he could have sworn he felt her fangs.

"_Get it, baby!" _a voice shouted. They broke apart from their kiss to see an older man behind them watching. "Don't mind me, ya'll _enjoy _the parade, uh-huh?"

They both burst out laughing at that and Klaus grabbed her hand, forcing their way through the crowds to pull her back into a crowded bar not far from their spot on the street.

"Drinks?" he called back to her as they continued pushing through the crowd.

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

They'd only stuck inside long enough to somehow get roped into two rounds of shots with a group of college humans that they'd never met before in their life. Caroline made quick but fleeting friends with a red-headed girl her age, accepting her offer of a pickle-back shot and then forcing Klaus to take the same.

He couldn't deny her anything. She'd been intent on getting him drunk since that morning and, unsurprisingly, she was succeeding.

As the group at the bar began to disperse, she was breathlessly pulling him out to the street again by his hand. She was dancing to the jazz blaring from the parade, sashaying her way back to the front of the viewing. A passing parade float shot confetti out of a cannon and they were suddenly awash in a rain of glittering gold, purple, and green confetti.

On the parade, a man dressed in a feathered costume noticed Caroline and beckoned to her to join him on the float.

"Oh my God! No fucking way!" he heard Caroline scream and she was bounding over to the float, Klaus's hand still in hers as she dragged him with her. They both jumped up and were quickly shuttled to the upper deck of the float. Another performer began thrusting handfuls of beads into their hands and Caroline was quick to work, tossing out beads like a seasoned parade worker.

Alongside her he was tossing out souvenirs carelessly, his eyes transfixed on her. She was pure light, dancing and waving to the crowds below her, smiling as she reached to the floor of the float to pick up more handfuls of beads to throw.

He was vaguely aware of eyes on him at certain points in the parade, recognized by vampires or wolves viewing the parade. It was probably the _last _thing anyone had ever expected to see the Original Hybrid doing — not to mention he stuck out like a sore thumb in his neutral outfit, amongst all the feathers, colors, and bling — but, right now next to Caroline, he really could have cared less.

They'd ridden with the parade to the very end, where they hoped off the float, both all smiles and more than a little drunk.

"I've got to take some of these _off_," Caroline lamented as they stumbled back towards the festivities further into the city. "They way like _ten _pounds!" She was depositing them in the street as they walked, looking hesitant to let each one go, as if they were the most important prizes.

"Well, come on then, give me some," he said, unlooping a huge portion from around her neck and appropriating them for his own.

She laughed at the site of him decked out in beads, _"Hey! _You didn't _earn _those," she chided.

"Watching you take out your tits over and over again in front of god knows how many other men?" he asked in a disbelieving tone. "I deserve a fucking _medal _for that, much less these beads."

"Let's go to Bourbon Street!" she suggested abruptly, completely ignoring his brief rant.

"Bourbon Street?" he asked, "It'll be packed."

"Let's just do it! I'm all in!" she slurred, marching ahead with purpose.

Klaus hadn't the foggiest idea what that meant. She was drunk off her ass but, he supposed, so was he. He followed behind her.

* * *

Oddly enough, it was in an _unbelievably _crowded bar on Bourbon Street that they'd run into Marcel who looked nothing less than shocked to see Klaus out — drunk and _dancing _with Caroline, no less.

"So you _do _still remember how to have a good time?" Marcel asked, making his way up to the dancing couple.

Klaus had been leading Caroline in an easy salsa, a strange pairing to the jazz band that was playing. He stopped when he saw Marcel, picking up a shot off of the tray of a passing waiter and downing it.

"Are you here to tell me to watch my back?" he asked his old friend, fairly tipsy at this point in the evening when they'd been drinking all day.

Marcel put his hands up defensively, "Hey man, you're the King of this city. What good's being King if you can't live it up a little?" he asked. What he'd honestly found _more _troubling, these past few months, was exactly how sucked into fatherhood his old friend had become. He'd made it clear his priorities were fully invested in Hope, so clear that Marcel had found it a blatant advertising of weakness.

Here, with the humanity-less Caroline by his side and the two of them compelling up a storm without a hint of remorse, Klaus seemed back on his game. In his prime and prepared to do whatever the fuck he pleased. New Orleans hadn't seen Klaus like that in far too long.

"Darling," he called to Caroline, placing a hand on her shoulder to slow her dancing as his attention abruptly shifted away from Marcel, "Are you hungry? I'm feeling peckish."

"I could eat!" she replied breezily, smiling as a waitress returned to their table to hand her a beer in a plastic cup which she took to go.

"Cheers, Marcel," Klaus said, departing with Caroline without another word.

Marcel shook his head, an amused smile on his face. Across the bar he saw two members of Hayley's pack watching the proceedings. Well, Caroline might have gotten Klaus out of his rut but people were certainly taking notice of her presence. He didn't know if that was a bad thing or not, yet. She certainly seemed like she could take care of herself but Klaus had a habit of making nasty enemies.

* * *

Complacent to the easy-going attitude of the day's events, Klaus had to keep a strict eye on Caroline to make sure she didn't kill the human she'd picked up for herself. She didn't but, not for lack of trying. In Caroline's mind, a nice, tasty kill would have been the ultimate icing on the cake for that day's events. For Klaus, it served as a painful reminder that Caroline still wasn't herself.

"I saw you up on that float," Caroline said, laughing as they walked through his door, "You've got some moves. You know how to work a crowd. Not gonna lie, pretty smooth."

"What about you?" he replied, laughing easily with her, "You're the one who got us invited up there in the first place."

"I _know! _I couldn't believe it!" she was removing clusters of beads from around her neck and finally untying her mask. Seeing her face again fully for the first time that evening he scooped her gently into his arms for a soft kiss.

A cough broke them apart. They turned and saw Elijah emerging from the study.

"While it sounds as if you've both had a most interesting day, I'm afraid we have to interrupt," Elijah said.

"We?" Klaus replied.

"We have visitors," he said, nodding.

Caroline and Klaus followed him. Rebekah was in the room, still in Eva's body, of course, and she was accompanied by a young blonde who looked very much like Rebekah in her normal body.

"Freya," Klaus said, coldly.

"Who're you?" Caroline asked behind him.

"I'm their sister," she responded, holding out her hand for Caroline to shake. Caroline frowned and ignored the girl's hand.

"Soap Opera Gasp!" Caroline exclaimed with a sarcastic fake gasp. "But, if you're their sister, why do you have an American accent?" she asked. "Or wait, _is _it American? I really can't tell, that thing's all over the place, say something else!"

Klaus choked out a laugh at that. Still steadfastly suspicious of his newly returned sister, he couldn't help but appreciate the frank observation.

"I have been held captive by my aunt Dahlia for centuries, I was not raised where my siblings were," she said, not at _all _sure how to react to Klaus's sharp-tongued and heavily intoxicated companion.

"Uh huh," Caroline deadpanned, "And what kind of accent did your aunt have, exactly?"

"Klaus," Rebekah interrupted, "She says Dahlia is looking for her for revenge. She needs our help."

"Why on Earth should I feel compelled to offer help to some witch I barely know?" he asked with a sneer. "Don't we have enough going on right now with you and Kol?" _Not to mention Caroline._

"She's saved Rebekah's life, Klaus," Elijah said, "And we've heard her story. Dahlia could be a threat to us all."

"She would stop at nothing to get revenge for my escaping from her," Freya confirmed.

Moving so fast she surprised everyone, Caroline had promptly sped over to Freya and snapped the girl's neck before letting the body drop to the floor in a heap.

"_Caroline!" _Rebekah shrieked, running over to her sister's body.

"What? I mean, if what she said was true isn't that more of a reason to keep her the hell away from us?" Caroline asked. "Are we trying to invite someone's evil aunt into our lives?" Her use of the word "_our" _did not escape Klaus.

Klaus chuckled appreciatively, next to her. "Didn't she tell you, Elijah, that she was immortal?" he asked. "Well, let's think of this as a good time to test that claim."

He wrapped an arm around Caroline's waist, pulling her down onto the couch with him. He kissed her fiercely, feeling particularly agreeable after seeing her suspicious response to Freya, and not caring if his siblings saw.

"Well since we may have an hour to kill waiting for her to wake," Elijah said, gesturing to Freya who Rebekah was moving to another couch in the room, "Now seems as good a time as any to discuss Caroline's charade the other night at Marcel's party."

"Charade?" Klaus asked, looking between the two of them.

"I prefer the term _stunt_," Caroline intoned, boredly.

"Alright stunt then," Elijah spat. "You almost upset the balance of Hayley's marriage."

"Ah, the baby mama," Caroline acknowledged, "Bet _she_ was being a total bore today."

"That's not something I would have expected to hear you complaining about, brother," Klaus considered.

"My concern lies with you," Elijah insisted. "If Caroline continues to antagonize Hayley, she could have a pack of wolves after her. Is that what you want?"

"Your intentions are selfless, as always, Elijah," Klaus replied, "But Hayley knows better than to stir up trouble with Caroline. I _rule _that pack, they do not rule me."

He stood, Caroline's hand in his, dragging her up with him. "Get _her_, out of my house," he said gesturing to Freya. "You can tell me _if _she wakes up, tomorrow."

* * *

Dragging her upstairs forcefully, Caroline was sure she was about to get laid. But he surprised her when he closed the door to his room and turned to her with clear _pain _in his eyes.

Something about her easy snapping of Freya's neck had stirred something in him. Sure, he had been contemplating the exact same move himself but the girl was still his _family_. Caroline was well aware how the Originals felt about their family — if they hurt each other, fine, but you couldn't dare mess with them if you were anyone else.

And it had been such a cold, ruthless move. After their breathless, energetic day soaking in the city, it was like a slap in the face reminding him that he didn't have Caroline because Caroline didn't have feelings. But he needed her to, he needed her to feel something for _him. _Their time together today had only made his feelings increase tenfold. And to see her so thoughtlessly slip back into the role of a remorseless killer was stirring both pain and lust within him, leaving him a conflicted mess as only she could.

"Turn it back on," he said. It was a low, desperate order.

"You know, you were way cooler back when you killed Tyler's mom," Caroline said, trying to lighten the mood as he paced around her.

It wasn't working. "If I remember correctly, you were quite upset about that at one point."

She scoffed, "Oh please, Lockwood is a total tool."

"You're realizing this now?" he asked. "You have impeccable timing. Turn it back on, Caroline," he demanded again.

"This isn't up for discussion," she said, holding up her hands. "Can't you just be satisfied I'm here?"

"Turn it back on!" He was kneeling now, faced pressed into the folds of her skirt with fists tightly clutching the material, pressing her close into him like a man possessed. _Boy I've really done a number on this one,_ was all Caroline could think.

"Klaus get up!" she demanded. "This is ridiculous."

"Caroline, you had to have known that if you came here I'd have to have all of you," he said darkly.

"Klaus, I'm not kidding, I will _leave _if you don't stop," she whined. She'd had such a whirlwind day and he was just _ruining _it, kneeling here asking for her to _care _for him.

"Leave? Didn't you know that if you ever came to me willingly, that I would move heaven and earth and the goddam universe to make sure you never left my side again?" he cried out rhetorically. "Look at what you've done to me — you're a witch!"

Caroline turned away from him sharply, tempted to dash out of the room but he stopped her. He had noticed her, caught her eyes before she'd turned and he saw it. Just a flash. He'd triggered something in her, almost triggered emotion. Real this time, not like all the times before that she'd tricked him. This was different.

"Klaus, I'm only going to tell you to _stop _one more time," she seethed.

He abruptly stood, backing away from her with his hands up. That spark that he'd seen. That was all he needed. If he could see that once, he could find it again. And he didn't need her running away in the meantime.

"Fine," he said, pretending to acquiesce.

"I'm going to bed," she muttered, annoyed but also increasingly suspicious of all these mood swings.

She padded out of the room and down the hall to her own bed. As confused as she was by Klaus's changeable behavior, she was far more concerned by what she had just felt — a flash of her old self and _sadness_. She was gonna have to kill something first thing in the morning and then, she was going to very seriously consider her next move.

Klaus, back in his room, was feeling exhilarated over whatever he'd just seen in her eyes. But he was well aware that if she wasn't going to run the next few days, he was going to have to play his role well. He couldn't afford to stir up any suspicion within her at this stage of the game. He was too close to winning.

* * *

**So we had a little plot advancement at the end there but, let's be honest, this chapter was almost entirely an excuse for a little Klaroline fluff that we **_**all **_**imagined after he left that phone message in season 4. But, more importantly, slight AU announcement - no Dahlia going after Hope. That's too much baby plot. It's not happening.**

**elisalolo6120**** pointed out something important about chapter 7 by the way — witches are resistant to compulsion and the rest of the Mystic Falls vamps would probably have had vervain in their systems, rendering Klaus's compulsion useless. That is all correct and I've tried to think of a suitable way to write around this but I can't come up with anything that I think works well. So, I'm calling it a day, acknowledging it as a canon error and moving on. And right after Klaus had said "No apparent loopholes," dag!**

**Enormous thanks to everyone for reviewing. You guys seriously write such thoughtful reviews that give me so many ideas, things to keep in mind, and motivation. You're super awesome. **


	9. Deeper Into the Abyss

**Big apologies for the delay! Explanation on why this took so long in the end notes; I've had a terribly bad stroke of luck recently. :/ **

**WARNING this chapter is mature and not just for smut. There's some rather unsettling violence, but it's brief. **

**Mild SPOILER ALERT for The Originals episode 2.16. I borrowed a scene from there, keeping it almost entirely the same minus a few minor changes to fit it within my plot. **

_**9**_

_**Deeper Into the Abyss **_

"_You're the one who ran in the wild cause you're the one the wild called," - _Up on Your Leopard_, Sunset Rubdown _

* * *

Klaus woke up with a note on his bedside table.

_Out. Don't wait up. - C_

Momentarily, he was shocked that she'd even left him a note; not to mention that she'd managed to sneak in and out of his room without his noticing. Klaus was a naturally light sleeper thanks to the centuries he had spent constantly watching his back. And Caroline had never bothered to let him know when she was leaving before, after all. But then it clicked into place that if she was planning to be out for a considerable amount of time by herself, she wouldn't want him setting the city on fire to smoke her out. The note was obviously her form of assurance that she would be undisturbed.

He dressed and headed down to his kitchen to pull out a blood bag from his freezer. He was hungry but didn't particularly want to go through the hassle of finding someone and compelling them or waiting to have someone sent over. But after he set it on the counter, he found himself so preoccupied that he began pacing about the room instead of drinking.

_Don't wait up. _That implied that she would be gone for a long while. How long was he supposed to sit around and _wait _for her to come back?

A new thought occurred to him: What if the note was a ploy to keep him waiting while she made an escape? Something had shifted between them last night. If he'd been able to see it in her eyes then she certainly would have been able to feel it. If Caroline was hellbent on keeping her humanity off, she might very well being attempting to leave as he paced through his kitchen.

Growling in heated frustration, rapidly working himself up by the second, he took his cell out of his pocket and dialed Marcel.

* * *

Caroline was not attempting to flee. Well, not _today_, anyway. Today she was simply preparing and organizing a back-up plan.

The flash of emotion she'd experienced the night before had troubled her. She'd thought about it all night, growing anxious at the idea that this new lifestyle she had grown so quickly accustomed to might be slipping away from her. She felt confident in her ability to hold Klaus at arm's length — _hopefully_ while still getting laid too — but if she felt even the hint of her old self rising within her again, she wanted to be able to leave and she wanted to be able to do it quickly and efficiently. And that meant not getting caught by Klaus.

Right now, she was standing in line at a US Passport Agency, about to have her photo taken. She'd already compelled the staff at the front desk to issue her a passport ready to use as soon as she left the building, if she so desired. She did not want to have to wait the several weeks typically required, after being issued a passport, to travel.

Truth be told, so far in this scheme, the hardest part had simply been _getting _to the Passport Agency. Marcel's vampires were all over the city, she saw them seemingly at every turn. She'd become more and more aware each day she was here, particularly thanks to the couple of events she'd attended with Klaus. Where everyone else may have seen a boozy dumb blonde, she'd only been playing at the part of a lush and a vixen. In actuality she'd been steadily observing everything and everyone, cataloging every face and listening out for important snippets of conversation.

So when she'd left The Abattoir earlier that morning, she was well aware of the sandy-haired, brawny vampire she'd seen at Marcel's party in The Quarter. Walking down Decatur Street she'd seen two twin sisters that hung around the more influential members of the New Orleans vampire community like a couple of groupies. She'd had to dash in and out of stores rapidly, switching streets and doubling back, stealing a baseball cap and tucking her hair neatly in a bun beneath it, to finally evade them. Luckily The Quarter was always packed with tourists and it was fairly easy to disappear into a crowd of people.

And while she was bouncing in and out of various tourist traps to lose the twins, she'd managed to pick up a few necessities anyway. With Mardi Gras over, the costumage sold around the city was on clearance and Caroline had her choice of several wigs and gaudy sunglasses for next to nothing. She had shoved them deep into the bag she was carrying with her, not knowing when it might come in handy to have some supplies to disguise her appearance.

Eventually, after all the stops and doubling back, she'd made it to the agency in one piece, untucking her bun and combing her fingers through her hair to straighten it because — _duh _— she wasn't going to look drab in her first passport photo. After they'd snapped her photo, she was shuttled straight back up to the front of the line to wait for the finished copy of her passport, much to the chagrin of other waiting customers.

When she'd left, there hadn't been anyone on the block that she could see but, the twins appeared again a few blocks later. At that point, though, she was close to an establishment that Klaus had mentioned her first night in the city — the Hotel Monteleone. Her interest had been immediately peaked by the promise of a spinning carousel bar and, if anyone was reporting her whereabouts to Klaus, this would be a perfect cover.

Stepping into the elaborately designed old fashioned hotel, she followed a sign pointing the direction to the famous bar. Caroline was greeted by the twinkle of dimly lit sparkling carnival lights. Patrons were seated around a bar that had a real old fashioned carousel roof over it, their stools spinning on a slowly revolving platform that circled the bar in the center were bartenders busy mixing up cocktails.

It was enchanting and, with a genuine smile on her face, she found herself a stool. This was the first time today she had been able to completely slip back into her humanity-less mindset — her sole goal in life was to pursue pleasure.

She flagged down the bartender, ordering herself a free beer with compulsion, an Abita. It was a local brew that she'd discovered while she was here that was actually fairly satisfying, and she had never been a beer drinker. The rotating bar spun very slowly, a good thing considering everyone on it was drinking. It took a good several minutes before she'd completely made it around one rotation, her seat finally spinning back around to face the doorway through which she had entered.

As she was finishing up her first beer she saw a tall, lanky, older but attractive gentleman in a business suit enter the bar. He cast his eyes around first taking in some of the empty stationary tables before scanning the bar where his eyes immediately found her. She was staring right back at him, almost daring him to come over.

With a charming crooked smile, reminiscent of Dermot Mulroney's affable but sexy grin in _My Best Friends Wedding_, he approached her.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked, sliding onto the stool next to her.

Caroline directed her full attention to him. He looked like he was in his 40's and had salt and pepper hair. His suit was crisp and clean cut, paired with lilac tie, befitting of the ending Mardi Gras season. He was clearly far too old for her — since, to his knowledge, she was just a young human — but he was very handsome. He was the kind of man who had been your best friend's father growing up but you started to fantasize about in high school.

"I'd never turn down a free drink," she said with a fake flirtatious smile on her face. "I'll have another Abita." She shoved her first empty bottle further away from her on the bar.

"Are you sure I can't tempt you to try a Vieux Carre?" the gentleman asked. "It's their signature cocktail here. It's famous, you'll love it."

"Sure, why not?"

"Two Vieux Carres, please," he told the bartender, holding up a hand to flag down a bartender before turning back to her. "My name is Jim Milton."

She took his outstretched hand and shook it. "Sabrina Brinkman," she lied smoothly, in a cheery voice, quite sure that this middle-aged man had never met Caroline's former first-grade classmate with the same moniker.

The bartender set down two rocks glasses in front of them with amber liquid finished with a twist of lemon peel. She took a sip. It was a strong drink but he'd been right, she quite liked it.

"This is delicious," she told him honestly.

"It's why they're so famous, I suppose," he said with a laugh, taking a sip of his own drink. "So Sabrina, how's your stay in New Orleans treating you?"

"What makes you sure I'm visiting?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I come here on business several times a year and I always stay at the Monteleone. I've talked to a lot of people at this bar but it doesn't attract many locals because it's a little on the pricier side."

"Is that your not-so subtle way of telling me that you're a wealthy business man?" she asked in a flirty voice and he laughed. She continued, "Maybe I just know that when I come into a ritzy place like this I won't have to pay."

"A girl that knows what she's worth, I like that," he acknowledged, clinking his glass to hers in cheers. "So you _are_ a local then?"

"As of recently, yes. I just moved here," she said. "And you? What kind of business brings you down here?"

"Investments in some local companies," he said. "Nothing you would be interested in."

The second he'd decided to make the bold move of _patronizing _the one and only Caroline Forbes she'd made up her mind. This guy had just bought a ticket to his own funeral.

* * *

"She's been spotted in several different stores in The Quarter," Marcel told Klaus over the phone. "Two of my best girls have an eye on her. She's fine, they said she's just been shopping."

Klaus let out a deep exhale through his nose, half in relief but half in continuing frustration. He had so many things to be focusing on right now but, as usual, his mind could only seem to come back to Caroline Forbes again and again.

"Thank you, Marcel," he said. "Keep me updated if anything changes."

He hit the end button on the call before his friend could say anything in response, slamming the phone down onto the counter beside him. He swore as he finally tore open his blood bag and drained it in a few gulps, feeling momentarily placated in response.

Well, he certainly wasn't going to sit around and wait for her. He did have a family now, after all.

Gathering his things and grabbing his keys, he head out to his garage where he promptly sped off to the Wolves' den.

When he arrived, there were already several members of Hayley's pack milling around outside and they took a guarded stance around the entrance of the home. They were all but _camping _out here in the woods. Klaus understood the necessity of the location for training the wolves with their new abilities but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted Hope to be there. Still, as much as he wanted his young daughter to grow up in complete luxury, there were benefits to being raised as part of a pack. She'd learn to hone her wolf abilities much more skillfully than he had ever had the chance to.

Stepping out of the car, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As usual the wolves were practically sniffing him down, fucking paranoid _dogs. _If they hadn't been trying to seriously keep themselves in check, he didn't doubt that they would have been circling him in defensiveness. Didn't they know who the fucking alpha male _was _here? He'd have to remember to teach them a lesson at some point, and soon. Caroline might enjoy that, he thought, wryly.

"Don't you all have a _ball _somewhere to chase?" he asked with a sneer. He may have been a Hybrid and, thus, part werewolf himself but, with so many years spent with his werewolf side locked away, he still subconsciously thought of himself superior as a vampire.

At his words, the door to the small house in the woods opened and out came Jackson.

"Klaus, leave my pack _alone_," he threatened with a growl.

Klaus smirked, finding the threat too funny to be intimidated or angry. Perhaps it was because he was too preoccupied by thoughts and worries surrounding Caroline but, the wolves' behavior wasn't infuriating him considerably less today.

"You can release your guard dogs from attention, Jackson," he replied, smoothly. "I'm only hear to visit Hope."

Jackson stared him down for just a minute before finally shrugging and waving off the members of his pack with a lazy, defeated hand. He opened the door again and walked in, leaving it open for Klaus to follow him. Crossing the threshold, he noticed Hayley at the window. She'd been watching the whole time.

Jackson was about to show Klaus to the baby's room when Hayley put up a hand to stop him.

"Jack, could you step outside?" she asked.

Jackson looked between the two of them, clearly agitated to be asked to leave his own territory. But finally he responded, "Fine."

Once he was out the door, Hayley turned to face Klaus.

"We need to talk," Hayley said as Klaus began to help himself to some of the shoddy liquor the wolves were keeping around in their foyer.

He sighed, already drained by the prospect of a "talk" with Hayley. He had really just come to check on Hope. "Do we indeed?" he intoned, dryly, already knowing where she was probably headed with this conversation. "Is this an expression of gratitude at the courtesy I've shown your husband? Or perhaps you want to _thank _me, for my efforts to protect you and your pack?" he spat at her.

"Damn good job you've done of that," she hissed back. "Considering the damage that little blonde bimbo of yours almost did to me."

He whirled on her enraged. "Do _not _bring Caroline into this. I've told you before that when it comes to her, there is no room for discussion," his voice was dangerously low, "And you will not refer to her in such vulgar terminology in front of me again."

Hayley rolled her eyes but didn't push it. Klaus would never hurt her; she knew that. In his own, strange, borderline disturbing way, she knew he loved her. She was the mother of his daughter and he would do anything to protect her. But she also knew that Klaus would stop at nothing to have _everything _he wanted, including Caroline, no matter what it took to make it work. He was an all or nothing man, wolf, and vampire — it was simply his nature. On this, it was best not to needlessly push him. She had bigger qualms with him right now, besides.

"Fine," she conceded. "All this tension with you, Jack, and the wolves… we need to put it behind us. Give Jack the space he needs to run the pack as he sees fit. No more orders, no more favors. He's alpha, period."

Klaus actually smiled and laughed at that. Who did these fucking wolves think they were? Their curse had been broken, giving them the opportunity to be human whenever they pleased but, once a mutt, always a mutt, he supposed.

"I'm sorry," he said, still laughing. "Did you ever think I'd agree to let Jackson rule the wolves?"

"You _will _show him respect, Klaus!" Hayley demanded, stepping forward with a finger pointed at him. "He's on our side and he's fighting for our daughter."

He was enraged but he practically bit back another laugh. She was trying her damndest to look strong and intimidating and sure of herself. Maybe it would have worked, too, if he hadn't been dealing with a certain spunky blonde the past several days. In comparison, Hayley looked like a fragile flower in the wind, trying her hardest to stand strong.

"You know, I've spent so much time lately with people who _claim _to be fighting for our daughter. Some I trust, some I do not but one thing is for sure — there is only one person that I trust when it comes to my child's safety and that would be _me!_" he railed at her, shouting vehemently now.

He began stamping away from her, eager to end the conversation so he could just go check on Hope but, he swung back around to face her with a final thought.

"You know, you all seem to think this is some kind of _democracy _but I assure you it is not! I decide how to protect Hope, no one else. If Jackson or anyone strays from the course that I set then they _will _answer to me and your husband would do well to remember that, in fact I think I'll leave it to you to remind him. That way, when he does inevitably incur my wrath again… you'll only have yourself to blame."

Finally he stormed out of the room to find Hope. Hayley remained behind, running a hand through her hair anxiously and sighing in distress before going outside to find Jackson.

"Well?" he asked her when she stood beside him in front of the house.

"It didn't go well," she admitted. "We'll talk about what to do when he leaves."

"And that tramp of his?" he asked, practically spitting out the word.

"Don't mess with her Jackson," Hayley said. "We have too much at stake with Klaus right now to throw _her _into the equation. He won't even talk about it anyway."

"I don't trust her," he said. "She's a threat to Hope."

Hayley shook her head, in genuine disagreement.

"Klaus will keep her away from Hope. Besides, I've dealt with Caroline before. She's smart enough, even without her humanity, not to get on Klaus's bad side. And as long as she's here, Hope may very well never be safer than she is now," Hayley told Jackson. "Anyone wanting to go after Klaus officially has two targets. That's preferable to when it was just Hope."

Jackson merely grunted in response. He understood his wife's logic but he still had reservations. Especially when Klaus was trying to run _his _pack.

* * *

Caroline felt like a succubus as she followed Jim to his room, giggling behind him while she held his hand, pretending to be drunk and out of sorts. As she did with most people she compelled in New Orleans, she'd already compelled the bartenders to forget her once she left, at the same time as she'd compelled herself free drinks for the afternoon.

With Jim, though, she didn't need compulsion and, that almost made this more fun.

They arrived at the door of his room and he pulled out his key card from his pocket, grinning back at her lopsidedly.

"Who'd have guessed I'd be so lucky tonight as to have a beautiful girl like you coming back to warm my bed," he said in what Caroline guessed he _thought _was his most charming voice.

She just laughed in response, pulling him to her by his tie as he unlocked the door. The two of them fell through the threshold while they kissed, stumbling over one another and laughing.

He broke apart from her for a second to ask, "Can I get you another drink? I can crack open the mini bar."

She kicked the door to his room shut behind her, pushing his chest hard to back him into the bed with purpose. _Another drink? _she thought to herself, _Boy, can you. _

"You're an eager one, aren't you?" he asked as she pushed him back onto his bed. "You're a _naughty _girl."

Every word that came out of this guy's mouth just made her hate him more but, not betraying her game just yet, she looked up at him with wide eyes and bat her eyelashes at him.

"Uh huh," she affirmed in a husky, little-girl voice, knowing that he was partly getting off on this because she looked about 25 at the most.

He tried to sit back up to kiss her but she pushed him down again by the chest, wagging a finger at him to chastise him. And then she began to undo his pants.

"You like to be in charge, huh?" he asked.

She didn't answer. She was tearing off his business slacks hungrily now, not bothering with his shoes, and then ripping his boxers down next. She glanced up at him to take in the hungry gleam in his eyes which matched her own and, then, she lowered her mouth onto his length.

"_Yes, baby," _he hissed in gratitude, clearly never guessing this was where the night would take them.

But she only moved up and down on him once, to make sure he was good and distracted, before lowering her fangs.

"Easy, baby," he said, "Less teeth."

She couldn't help but smile. And then she bit down, hard.

His scream pierced through the air, agonized and shocked. Blood filled her mouth instantly and she sat up to spit out his dismembered manhood across the room. His eyes were wide with horror and shock; he clearly didn't know what to do. His eyes were flashing between her and the empty bloody space between his legs, completely unbelieving and terrified. Blood was squirting everywhere from the recently engorged area. She was practically bathing in it. In a matter of seconds she had gone from feeling like Lolita to Lady Bathory.

Using her vamp speed, she flipped him so that his face was forced into the mattress, both muffling his pained groans and practically smothering him. And then she bit down again, this time on his neck, draining him quickly and enjoying every second of it.

* * *

Klaus had left Hope after only a short while. She had been napping when he finally made his way into her room after that enraging discussion with Hayley. He hadn't wanted to wake her. As usual, his visit was merely to ascertain that she was there, healthy, and happy. Looking down at her in her crib, his heart surged with a similar sort of joy to what he felt when Caroline was indulging him. But this was more real. The presence of his daughter was a true and pure love. He felt the same towards Caroline but, as long as she had her emotions turned off, any response she showed him was pure manipulation.

Still, he couldn't help but enjoy her here. It was certainly a step above her remaining in Virginia, completely uninterested in him. As he pulled back into The Abattoir, he found himself hoping that she might be home, waiting for _him_, for once.

Opening the door, though, the only sounds that greeted him were Elijah and Gia, laughing in the kitchen.

He walked into the room, where they both had wine glasses filled with blood set out in front of them

"Ah, Klaus," Elijah greeted. "There you are."

"Is Caroline home?" he immediately asked in response.

"Haven't seen her," Gia answered, bitterly. Klaus resisted the urge to sigh in annoyed response. Whatever had gone on between those two, he could not have cared less. But he had a feeling he was about to find out what had happened anyway, despite his wishes.

"Niklaus, we have to talk about Caroline," Elijah began, as delicately as possible. "You're going to have to get her under control while she is staying here.

Klaus bit back the first two thoughts that came to mind. _1) Don't you think I'm _trying _to get her under control? 2) What do you mean "while" she's staying here? Do you expect her residence to be temporary? _

Instead he said, "Oh? Is she so out of control? So far, her messes have seemed fairly easy to clean up. Perhaps you are merely losing your touch with younger vampires in your old age, Elijah."

Elijah, sighed, setting down his glass. "Klaus she attempted to break up Hayley and Jackson's union," he said.

Klaus stared at him, completely unfazed, for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, _"And? _They've married, the Crescent Wolves broke their curse. I don't understand the problem."

"She tried to make it look like Elijah was cheating on me, Klaus," Gia said, stepping in defensively. "That's not okay. She's just stirring up trouble for no reason."

"Oh, you two are… a _thing _now?" he asked, exaggeratedly faking interest before turning back to his brother. "So you're wasting my time because your girlfriend has hurt feelings, is that it Elijah?"

"Klaus, the changes in the Crescent Pack will only hold if the union between Hayley and Jackson stay together and _live _together," Elijah argued. "And Gia is an innocent woman, guilty only of befriending Caroline, besides. Caroline is ruthless right now Klaus, you _need _to get her under control."

"And either way, Klaus, no one in here is too happy with your _girlfriend_ running around, causing trouble," Gia snapped, turning 'girlfriend' into a dirty word just as he had done to Elijah. "Sure it was harmless this time but she has her humanity turned off! Who knows what she'll do next just for the fun of it?"

Just then, Caroline rounded the corner into the kitchen, surprising all of them as no one had heard the front door open. She picked up an apple from the fruit bowl as she entered the room, crunching into it loudly.

"Gia, he's not my boyfriend," Caroline explained in a pitying voice. "You're just gullible."

"Could've fooled me," Gia muttered as she eyed the way Caroline immediately stepped up next to Klaus when she'd entered the room.

"But that's just it!" Caroline exclaimed, mouth still full of apple, "I _did _fool you. See?"

Gia turned away, back towards Elijah, clearly disgusted with the blonde now that she'd tricked her.

Klaus, meanwhile, could not stop seething from the moment Caroline had entered the room. The second she'd gotten close enough he could smell another man on her. And not _just _a man from whom she'd fed.

Pulling her harshly by the upper arm, he wrenched her out of the room. Once they were alone he grasped her by the side of her head and yanked her into him so he could furiously sniff at her hair. Yes, his suspicions were confirmed. Some man was all over her. It was permeating the air around him.

"Who _is _he?" Klaus growled into her ear.

Annoyed, she pushed him off of her with a glare.

"I think you mean_ was_," she corrected. "Cause he's sure as hell dead now."

"Did you sleep with him?" he insisted. "Before you killed him, did you _bed _some other man?" He was yelling full out at her now. He'd known she'd slept with the men in Atlanta but, here and now, after he'd had her again, he'd grown far more possessive. Elijah and Gia were still in the house and could doubtless hear them now but, he didn't care.

"You say _other _man like I have some sort of obligation to you," she replied with a sneer. "I've already said it once today, Klaus. I'm _not _your girlfriend. I only pretended to be once to mess with Gia's head."

He full on slammed her into the far wall behind the two of them and, the harsh display of dominance sent a shockwave of desire straight into Caroline's core.

"It doesn't _matter _if you're my girlfriend," he growled into her ear, pinning her into the wall, "All that matters is that you're _mine." _

Truthfully, Caroline would have hotly debated that sentiment but, still on a high from the murder-blood lust from the hotel, she was too turned on to argue with him. Instead, she pressed her lips to his in a heady kiss. She thrust her tongue into his mouth first, catching him as off-guard as the kiss had itself. Immediately, his angry posture relaxed and he stopped pinning her into the wall and, instead, cradled her against him. Damn she could turn his emotions on a dime.

But she wasn't having any of his gentle holding or caresses. She fisted her hands into his hair, pulling him close into her and making sure their bodies were flush against one another. Again, not caring what Gia and Elijah might hear, he sped them both up to his bedroom, locking her beneath him and pulling down her pants before she had a chance to take stock of her bearings.

He had her naked from the waist down within seconds and was quickly spreading her legs apart to dip down his head. She leaned back with a moan the second he began tasting her. He was so _good _at pleasing her, it was almost intimidating. He'd learned her body so intimately that, in the heat of the sensations of pleasure he'd brought her, she'd never had the attention span to learn the same of him. But that didn't mean she was unaware how to use his desire for her to her advantage.

Klaus took a long languid lap at her folds, making her shudder, before darting his tongue inside of her, growing even harder when he could see and feel her clenching in pleasure. Quivering beneath his skilled, flicking tongue that was pushing closer and closer to ecstasy, Caroline abruptly realized that he'd had his taste of her _far _too many times to be fair. It took a great deal of willpower but, she pushed his head down and off of her.

He slapped back her hand, forcing a hand between her thighs to roughly hold them apart when she tried to close them.

"Not yet, love," he said, grinning at her, wolfishly, "You know I want to see you come undone _this way _first." He thought she was trying to get to sex.

Using her vamp speed she flipped them, unbuttoning his pants as she did so.

"_I'm _not thinking sex yet, Klaus," she explained, pulling his pants down along with his boxers, freeing his length as she did.

He hissed in need when his erection was freed and she was so _close_. And before he knew what she was doing, Caroline was enacting what he'd only ever dreamed of before. Gripping the base of his cock in one small hand, she slowly lowered her warm mouth over him, sucking him in gently.

He honestly couldn't form words at the feel of it and he let out a low, agonized groan of pure pleasure and satisfaction. The sound pleased Caroline to no end, especially given how many times he'd elicited the same moans from her. Still sucking, she pulled his length back out, releasing it with a _pop _like she was sucking and ice cream cone. She stuck out her tongue and firmly ran it along the length of him from base to tip, swirling quickly around his member's head, again and again, relentlessly.

His hands flew to her hair, holding her to him as gently as he could, trying to keep ahold of himself while she tortured him deliciously. He thought of everything he _could _besides her, to keep himself from exploding. She wasn't letting up with that devious little tongue trick. It was too much sensation and he was threatening to burst already.

The moment Klaus thought he was done for she stopped and took him fully into her mouth again. It alleviated the concentrated pleasure at his most sensitive point but, it was a whole new realm of hedonism. He'd never imagined she'd do this. First, because he'd never imagined he'd be with her — at least, not so soon. Then, because when she came to him with her humanity off… it didn't exactly make her the selfless type. But, glancing down at her to memorize the image of her bow shaped mouth moving up and down on his cock, he found her blue eyes staring wickedly right back. She was getting _off _on this. The realization made him even harder and, he hadn't thought that possible.

Something about the day's earlier events with the human eroticized this heavily in Caroline's mind. She was jumping from one extreme to the other — the actions disgust provoked versus the actions lust provoked. No one could have flipped her desires so dramatically while she didn't have her humanity except Klaus. She swallowed him fully, letting his tip hit the back of her soft throat.

"_Fuck, Caroline," _he fisted his hands in her hair again, tighter now and knowing, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it was probably hard enough to hurt her but — _fucking hell _— what she was doing felt so _good. _

Caroline could tell he was close. He was all but panting with effort to keep from cumming. She took him deeper, making the motion she would to swallow, allowing her mouth to close tightly around him. She was sure this would be the final move it took to have him coming undone beneath her for once.

And it would have been, if she hadn't been dealing with a ten-centuries-old hybrid who had mastered his self-control during sex. The moment she'd taken him so much deeper, he roughly yanked back on her hair — hard enough to pull her quickly off of him, but not hard enough to hurt her — and threw her back onto the bed. She landed softly back onto his pillows, laughing and flushed with pleasure at his expression. He was crazed with desire and she finally felt as though she'd given him a taste of what he usually did to her.

Positioning himself on top of her, he quickly and smoothly slammed inside of her, eliciting a loud cry of appreciation from her. He did it again, hitting the same spot but rotating his hips as he did so and she latched onto his back with her nails, clawing at him in fervor. He paused to take in the dazed look in her eyes and enjoy the warmth of her around him.

"God, Klaus, _again_," she demanded, before pressing her lips into his.

He kissed her back, sure that he would never grow tired of the feel of her lips, but growled roughly into her ear before he moved inside of her again, _"You're mine." _

He didn't ask her to respond; he just pounded into her again. And again. And then he began setting a relentless pace, fucking her harder than he ever had before, as hard as he'd ever fucked a woman ever, knowing she could take it.

The sensation was overwhelming. He knew exactly what points to hit inside of her and, before long, she was already a sweating and trembling mess beneath him.

"Klaus! I'm going to-" she bit off the thought with another delirious moan and he pulled her head back by her hair so she was forced to look at him.

"_Cum, Caroline," _he demanded. "Now!"

Hearing him say that, in the husky voice that only came out when he was buried inside of her, was all the prompting she needed. She unravelled beneath him with an ungraceful, _"Fuck!" _Every muscle in her body clenched as the rush of her orgasm overwhelmed her. She was pretty sure that, in the midst of it, she sloppily pressed her mouth to his jaw, kissing him almost tenderly. But she couldn't be sure, she was so overwhelmed by the sensations.

He followed shortly after, the exquisite fluttering of her orgasm around him and the sweet kiss she unconsciously pressed against him, finally sending him over the edge. He held her against him tightly as he came inside of her. She was practically limp in his arms, riding out her own orgasm.

When he finally pulled out of her, her eyes were half shut in exhausted gratification. He couldn't take his eyes off her — flushed and spent, too fully pleased to bother with a quippy response as she was typically loathe to do. She let him kiss her again without question, let him pull her into him like a real lover. Neither one of them said anything: Caroline because she was almost senseless from ecstasy; Klaus because he wouldn't dare do anything to ruin this moment.

Caroline was exhausted and his firm, slick body felt good — and _right_, though she wouldn't acknowledge that to herself— against hers, so she let him hold her. He turned them in the bed so she was curled into him, both of them laying on their sides.

It was only the afternoon but neither of them could stand the idea of moving at this moment, even if their motivations were different. So they fell asleep together, for the first time since she had arrived.

* * *

**Thank you guys for your patience on this chapter, I am SO sorry for the delay. Let it be known that I really struggled with it and I'm still not sure it really came out as well as I imagined in my head. And, in the midst of writing it, I was very suddenly kicked out of my apartment after being physically attacked by my roommate! So, it took some time to find a place to actually finish writing. Ugh. I did make this extra long though to make up for it! I was in a bit of a hurry, though, to get it up once I'd finished, so apologies for editing errors.**

**Oh and, in writing this chapter I got my 169th follower so, in honor of 69… hahaaaa. Yeah, sometimes I have the sense of humor of a sixteen-year-old boy. And, obviously, I didn't write a legit 69 scene… my smut skills just aren't quite there yet, sadly. It came pretty close, though. **

**Last thought: The song I quoted at this start of the chapter I would highly recommend listening to. The full song title is "Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days" by Sunset Rubdown. Not only is just a very weirdly-wonderful song, many/most of the lyrics directly describe how I picture humanity-less Caroline. **


	10. When the Earth Split in Two

"_And though explosions make debris and catching it kind of suits you… well it doesn't suit me," - _The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life, _Sunset Rubdown_

_**10 **_

_**When the Earth Split in Two**_

* * *

Neither of them had ever been nappers. Caroline had always been too full of restless energy — planning events, going to cheer practice, making sure she maintained a 4.0 and, trying to balance time for friends between all of that. Klaus had barely liked to sleep at all over the centuries, much less nap. Sleep was one of those ridiculous _human _liabilities that he preferred to do without as much as possible. He was too busy maintaining the empire he'd created for himself, making up curses, hunting doppelgangers and, now, protecting Hope. And usually, when he did allow himself to fall into the embrace of sleep, that embrace quickly turned into a noose and he was usually plagued by nightmares of his parents.

When he woke up with Caroline in his arms a few hours later, he was honestly shocked. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept in the middle of the afternoon, or even if it had _ever _happened. Even more surprising was that Caroline was already up but still contentedly resting in his arms. She did have a peculiar expression on her face, though: slightly put-out and clearly baffled. She seemed just as confused about the state they found themselves in now as he was. But she also seemed to be resenting it. Klaus was usually full of resentment but, in this moment, every ounce of it seemed to have vanished.

"How long have you been up?" he asked her.

She averted her eyes, "I just woke up." It was a lie, he could tell.

Suddenly, she pushed herself out of his arms, forcing the covers off of both of them as she swung her legs outs of the bed. She picked up her panties and jeans up from the floor, sliding the on while still studiously avoiding his eyes.

"I'm going down stairs," she called as she flounced out of the room.

Klaus sighed, falling back onto his pillows for a moment. As usual, she took what she needed from him and then promptly returned to not caring. Didn't she understand that _he _needed more? _Of course she does, _he reasoned to himself, _she just doesn't give a shit. _

Pulling on his own pants, he straightened his bed before following her down the stairs. He could hear that she had the television on in the living room. It sounded like she was listening to the local news.

_"Tom, I'm reporting tonight from about one block away from the famed Hotel Monteleone here in the French Quarter,"_ a journalist was reporting on the screen. Standing nearby watching was Caroline, with a look of extreme smug satisfaction on her face. Elijah was watching idly on the couch, his interest not entirely directed towards the screen. Gia had apparently left for the evening.

_"Police have closed off the block here and investigators are questioning every guest in the hotel tonight, trying to get to the root of a brutal murder inside the hotel. What we know now is that authorities were called to the scene earlier this afternoon when guests in the hotel called 911, after hearing screams in the adjacent hotel room. At this time, police are not releasing any conclusive information but, a staff member in the hotel has leaked speculative information that they found guest Jim Milton in pool of his own blood in his bed with his penis torn off."_

Caroline guffawed aloud at that, right at the same time that Elijah was finally looking towards the screen with interest, "Jim Milton?" he inquired, "My god, he's a major cocaine supplier down here! He's worked with Marcel in the past."

"Huh," Caroline replied thoughtfully. "Well that's not what he told me. Damn! If I'd known I would've tried to steal some White Wedding off of him first!"

"You're responsible for this?" Elijah practically shouted, "Caroline! This could cause us major trouble!"

Klaus, on his end, could have cared less about any potential trouble with a bunch of human drug lords. He simply couldn't move past the fact that Caroline had had another man in her mouth, even if she did ultimately rip off the goods. And right before they had… The thought disgusted him twice as much as it had when he'd first smelled the man on her. Klaus was used to hurt; he'd lived several lifetimes in nothing but pain. But something about dealing with Caroline while she didn't give a fig about anyone but herself seemed to be like ripping a bandage off of a fresh wound again and again each day.

"Oh please," Caroline responded, annoyed at being chastised as always. "He was just a human!"

"Yes but he works with some nasty vampires out of South America," Elijah pressed. "That's how he became so successful, they helped cover his tracks using compulsion."

"Christ, what the hell were they getting out of the deal?" she wondered, completely nonplussed in response to Elijah's reaction, as usual.

"Exclusive and easy access to almost every human drug trafficking ring on the East Coast and the southern half of the United States, for starters," Elijah explained.

"Ugh, _whatever_ Elijah, don't you know anything about drugs? Kingpins are a dime a dozen, those vamps will be able to replace him easily. And just think about all the drama that comes along with working in a drug cartel. They were probably just waiting for a chance to replace him anyway," she reasoned. "There's nothing a vampire hates more than a human that's gotten too big for his britches and, _trust me_, that guy's big head was in serious need of a reality check. I probably did them a favor."

"But that's really not the point Caroline. Either way, this is going to be yet another huge mess for us to clean up on your behalf," he replied, still quite agitated, despite the sound logic of her reasoning which was very likely correct.

"Already took care of it. I compelled the only staff that saw me in the hotel," she said. "Plus if any guests overheard us in the bar, they think my name is Sabrina Brinkman."

"They could still recognize your face, Caroline!" he shot back.

"So I'll find and compell them and the cops too, if I have to," she replied in a huff. "They could freaking send me to prison, Elijah, and I'd still get out. Stop being such a drag!"

"What about security footage?" Klaus asked, finally inserting himself into the conversation. Any jealousy he was feeling he would have to deal with on his own. Caroline certainly wasn't going to assuage any hurt feelings. He would need to move on for the time being.

"Dude, that's a fancy schmancy hotel. They respect their patrons privacy too much to keep cameras in the halls. I know, I made sure of it. The only place they had cameras was in the lobby and I compelled the front desk to take care of that and forget me on my way out," she explained. "Christ, it's getting really annoying how much you all underestimate me."

Turning on her heel she exited the room, pulling out her cell phone.

"What are you doing _now?" _Elijah insisted, his voice laced with anxiety. "Who are you calling?"

"I'm calling Marcel to have him send over someone to eat, _Dad_, gosh!" she called from the opposite room before turning back to face Klaus, "You want anything? I'm craving 20-something midwestern tourist."

These days Caroline couldn't say anything to him without reminding him of how vastly she'd changed. The _real _Caroline would have been disgusted to hear anyone talking about humans like take-out food. As it was, he was so tense from her keeping him constantly on edge that a little fresh blood sounded like the perfect thing for the moment.

He nodded with a defeated sigh, "Just have him send a few people over."

"Word," she replied and began dialing on her cell.

* * *

Less than an hour later, three young compelled tourists had shown up at The Abattoir. Caroline was under strict instructions to keep them in good health if she ever wanted Marcel to deliver for her again. He'd tried to convince her to accept some of the humans that willingly worked for him but, she had insisted on innocent tourists. The more innocent the better, in fact. So, three young girls, each barely over 18, were sent over. Caroline was especially pleased to discover that one of the girls was from Minnesota when she asked. Marcel had even made good on her request for midwestern cuisine; she'd have to remember to keep him in her good books going forward.

The blood did put Klaus in a better mood, a fact that pleased Caroline considering she had already been in a fantastic mood from the day's earlier kill and the fabulous sex. Still riding that high, being around a moping Klaus wasn't exactly what she wanted to do. He seemed to be moping almost constantly these days and she suspected it was because of her, though that _still _didn't make even the slightest sense to her.

Here she was, showing up at his home and his city, completely ready to warm his bed whenever he might desire. Hadn't that been what he'd always professed to want the most? There _had _been that unsettling little instance the night before but — and perhaps this was just due to the fact that she didn't have empathy anymore — she hadn't really been sure what he'd meant. He'd said he had to have _all _of her. She knew he wanted her humanity back on but, in her opinion, he _did _have all of her. This _was _all of her now, after all. Whatever "all" he was referring to, from before, didn't exist anymore.

That night before, after Mardi Gras, what had really almost triggered emotion inside of her had been the sight of him on his knees in such genuine distress. She didn't know why it had such a profound effect on her and she wasn't going to waste any time trying to figure it out. The fact that it had had _any _effect scared her so much that she just decided to stop thinking about it period.

But, in reliving the scene at all, she remembered what it was that had brought them to that conversation — the fact that she'd snapped Freya's neck.

"So that looney-bin sister of yours?" Caroline began, shoving the midwestern girl away and directing her attention to Elijah, "I guess she must have come back to life or otherwise you'd be freaking the hell out about that too."

Even Elijah had decided to put aside his quarrels with Caroline for the evening to share a meal with her. Something about fresh blood always cleared his head when he had a lot of anxiety on his plate and Caroline was nothing if not a plentiful source of anxiety. He looked up from his own human who looked about spent from the blood loss; he gently directed her to the couch where she crashed.

"She did indeed," Elijah confirmed, "Though she was none too pleased with the sudden test of her honesty, particularly given the fact that _you _didn't know she was immortal."

"Eh," Caroline said with a dismissive wave. "If she's a sister to a bunch of Originals, I'd call immortality a pretty safe bet."

"And where is our dear, newly returned sister now?" Klaus asked, licking the blood from his lips as he too laid down his human to recover on the couch. "I'd have thought the second she woke she'd be knocking on my door again, begging for assistance."

"She's staying with Rebekah, they're trying to work on a cloaking spell to keep Freya permanently hidden from her aunt-"

"Should Rebekah be wasting her time on such a trivial project when she's currently not even inhabiting her own body? And when a sibling we actually know and care for is trapped behind death's door?" Klaus interrupted bitterly. He had a lot to worry about these days and the introduction of Freya into his life was nothing more than a nuisance.

"If this is all such a bother to you, Klaus, then why even inquire?" Elijah returned. "Rebekah has agreed to help her out of the goodness of her own heart, even if that means delaying her return to her body. And we all know you've daggered Kol enough times to be fine waiting a while longer for his return."

"I'm not sure Kol would consider himself _'fine' _with waiting any longer than he has to," Klaus said simply but let the subject drop after that. Truthfully, he didn't want to press the subject any longer himself. He had two priorities right now: Caroline and the pack. Currently, he only knew how to deal with the latter.

The girls were coming round now. Elijah leaned over to look into their eyes and survey their response. They were still woozy but didn't look terribly out of sorts. He began to compel them, "Ladies, you all will return to wherever you are staying now. You will go straight to bed and sleep until late tomorrow morning. When you wake, eat something with a lot of protein. You won't remember any of this."

Soundlessly the girls rose in unison and made their way out the front door. Klaus followed to lock it behind them. When he returned to the living room, Caroline was stretched out lazily across the now vacated couch, lounging like she'd just feasted well.

Klaus decided to move onto more pressing topics with Elijah. "The wolves are pushing for independence," he said. "Hayley attempted to persuade me to accept Jackson as alpha."

Caroline snorted from the couch but didn't open her eyes, seemingly happy enough to just listen in on the conversation at this point.

"And what did you say to that attempt?" Elijah asked.

"I set her straight, of course. After everything I've done to protect those wolves, that any of them would see me as anything less than the alpha is patently absurd," he said.

"I expect you have a plan to do something about it?" Elijah asked.

"Yes, I do," Klaus said, thinking for a moment before he continued, "I think I'm going to take another trip out there tomorrow. Show them what it means to be a _true _alpha."

"Oh! Can I come?" Caroline asked, excitedly opening her eyes and sitting up to face him.

Klaus couldn't hold back his smirk. He had known Caroline would get a kick out of him scaring the wolves. There weren't many advantages to an emotionless Caroline but this was one of the few. She'd have his back when he needed to get dirty work done, even if it was just for her own personal amusement.

Elijah interrupted before he had a chance to respond to her, "Be careful, Klaus," he warned. "If you hurt Jackson, the whole pack may turn on you. And I know you want that pack there for Hope."

"I haven't decided on my precise plans for Jackson, yet," he replied. "But the pack will always be there for Hope as long as Hayley is around. So the _only _thing left to accomplish is to make sure that the pack protecting Hope is under my complete control."

"Yeah but can _I _come?" Caroline asked again. She was sitting on the arm of the couch now, feet propped up on the seat as she looked at him in anticipation. She looked as excited as a child about to visit Disneyland, an expression that escaped neither brother. But while it concerned Elijah, Klaus was elated to have her so invested in his plans.

"Let me rephrase then," Elijah interjected. "If anything should happen to both Jackson _and _Hayley, the pack will turn on you."

"I'll be good," Caroline lied, as convincingly as she could. "I just want to watch, I swear. Oh, and add quippy comments from the peanut gallery, of course."

"Of course," Klaus intoned, with an indulgent smile. "Yes, you can join me Caroline. Elijah, you are welcome to come as well if you're really so concerned and you're sure you can keep your tongue in check, even if you disagree with my methods."

"I'm not sure I could make that promise," Elijah said, standing. "And either way, Gia and I have both committed to helping Rebekah and Freya tomorrow. We're planning to get an early start so I will bid you both good evening."

"Adieu, brother," Klaus said.

"Peace out," Caroline tacked on.

Elijah cracked a smile before heading out of the room and up the stairs. Caroline was constantly making him upset these days but he could understand Klaus's dilemma. The spirited blonde always had a way of worming her way back into one's heart.

They sat in silence as they listened to Elijah's retreating steps. When he was finally gone, Caroline turned to Klaus.

"So," she began, slapping her hands onto her lap, ready to move on, "Wanna make out?"

"That's not all I want to do," he said with a teasing growl and stood from his chair to tackle her off of the couch's arm chair and back onto the couch cushions, kissing her as he did.

* * *

They'd only fooled around that night on the couch. He'd groped her breasts beneath her bra like a mischievous teenage boy. The behavior reminded him very much of the playful make-out session they'd shared on his porch after their date the night before Mardi Gras. Enjoying experiencing intimacy with her in every way possible, he was content not to take the night further. He'd slipped his fingers beneath the waistband of jeans to get her off with his skilled fingers, pleased to watch her come undone from the most benign of sexual acts with him. The scent of her hand lingered with him for the rest of the night after that but, that was likely in part because she had _actually_ stayed the night with him.

After their fumbling but fun tryst on the couch, Caroline had remembered how much she enjoyed waking up with Klaus after they'd napped that afternoon. It had disturbed her at the time, seeming too intimate to feel appropriate in her current mindset. But, as with most things that began to bother her these days, she simply put it out of her mind. There wasn't anything wrong with wanting the firm body of an attractive man to warm your bed through the night, she ultimately decided. And she ignored his surprised face when she trailed after him into his room, instead of her own, after they'd climbed the stairs.

Shutting off the light next to his bed, his heart had soared in elation when he felt her curl into him and rest her head on his chest. He'd wrapped an arm around her, feeling her drift off to sleep quickly and easily. He had a much more difficult time letting sleep come, not wanting to move or even close his eyes lest she disappear in his arms.

It was another surprise when he woke the next morning and she was still sound asleep in his bed. Apparently when Caroline didn't have plans for mischief or parties of her own during the day, she was wont to sleep in. She'd shifted out of his arms during the night, sleeping on her side with a pillow fisted tightly between her arms like a child might snuggle a stuffed animal. He was tempted to pull her back into him, loving both the warmth of her slender form against him and the ability to breath in her heady scent as he pleased. But, he ultimately decided against it, wanting to watch her sleep in his bed for as long as possible.

Checking the time and seeing that it was past 10 am, he rose from the bed to head into his walk-in closet to get dressed. And, of course, by the time he was dressed and out she had disappeared from the bed. He could hear music blasting from her room and he walked down the hall to see what she was up to.

She was listening to _In the Summertime_ by Mungo Jerry, her taste in music continuously surprising him as much as her humanity-less antics did. Her door was wide open and he could see she had her phone plugged into the speakers she'd bought for herself at some point before she'd made that maddening trip to Atlanta. She was dancing around the room in a matching bra and panties set as she searched for clothes. But, upon spinning around at one point in the song, she caught his eyes in the doorway.

Not embarrassed in the slightest, she continued dancing, beckoning for him to enter.

_If her daddy's rich, take her out for a meal. If her daddy's poor, just do what you feel. _The music continued as he entered her room, taking a seat on her bed while she sashayed across the room, picking through her clothes and indiscriminately throwing them around the room when she found something she didn't want.

Still not finding anything to her taste, she started hamming up her dance to the song, singing out each heavy _'Uh!' _the singer let loose in the song and mimicking the motion of a washboard player. She knew very well what she was doing, knew that she was playing on his love for her by putting on this little performance. But being aware of her seduction techniques didn't make them any less powerful.

She waltzed up to him and took his hands. He indulged her in an easy two-step, spinning her around before leading her into a dip.

"Hurry up," he said, leaning down low over top of her as he held the dip, noticing when his breath on her neck gave her goosebumps. "I know you want to play with the wolves."

He lifted her from the dip and she sighed resignedly.

"That I do," she replied, finally settling on a shirt she saw across the room and leaving him to pick it up.

"I'll meet you downstairs in fifteen minutes, love," he said and left the room to let her finish getting ready.

* * *

Caroline was initially surprised when Klaus drove them out of the city as she had thought pretty much everyone around her live _in _the city limits. But, continuing on to a more remote area of the woods, it began to make sense. From everything she had learned about werewolves, or experienced firsthand, they were most at home in the woods.

They pulled up to a small cabin, in front of which several members of Hayley's pack were dueling each other. They weren't taking it easy, either. They were throwing each other into trees, testing their new strength and speed.

The moment they all noticed Klaus's car, though, the fighting stopped and they took a theatrical guarded stance around the cabin, starring them down hard. Klaus groaned in annoyance.

"_This _is exactly why we're here," he said, more to himself than her. Caroline didn't respond anyway, she was too busy maintaining eye contact with a glaring Hayley, refusing to look away first and keeping a creepy smile locked onto her face. She won the contest when Hayley nervously glanced towards Jackson, checking her husband's reaction to their presence.

"Hope isn't here right now, Klaus," Jackson growled as soon as they emerged from the car. "Rebekah has her for the day while the pack trains. You don't need to be here."

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong but, you all seem to be enjoying your new abilities here, not to mention the fact that you can now change at will. And I believe that your pack can thank _me _for those gifts," he began. "Which means, I have _every _right to be here whenever the mood strikes me!"

Caroline glanced around at the dirty wooded area with disgust and looked to Klaus, "Hate to break it to you man but, your baby is being raised by a bunch of fucking rednecks."

Klaus ignored the jab, "Caroline, run off and entertain yourself for a few minutes. I need to speak to _my _wolves."

Immediately annoyed at being shoved off like she was nothing more than arm candy, Caroline was about to give him a piece of her mind. But then the thought that she could certainly have _much _more fun with the wolves when Klaus wasn't around made her bite back her snappy reply. Sighing with fake irritation and shooting him a glare, she pretended to stalk off to take a walk.

She was almost sure she'd be followed but, the wolves were apparently much more concerned with Klaus. _They don't see me as a real threat_, she thought to herself, _I wonder what I can do to change that… _

"It's come to my attention that you all are having some trouble accepting my authority," Klaus said as Caroline retreated.

"I'm the alpha of this pack," Jackson growled. "And as much as you like to keep reminding all of us about or new strength, you sure don't seem to be grasping the situation. We're not just a pack of regular werewolves anymore or even Marcel's sham of an army of vampires. The Unification Ceremony changed us and we can take of ourselves. And we can thank _Hayley _for that, not you."

Needing no further prompting, Klaus sped forward, thrusting his hand into Jackson's chest and wrapping his hand around his heart.

"And _you _don't seem to realize that I could get rid of each and every one of you just by tearing out your heart," Klaus replied in a low tone, "Or perhaps I should rip you apart limb from limb? Which would be more _fun?"_

The wolves were encroaching, preparing to attack him as Jackson winced in pain.

"Everyone, stop!" Hayley called, putting a hand up and shouting to get their attention.

Klaus squeezed his hand in Jackson's chest, making the man wince, but ultimately let go and pulled out his hand, empty. The wolves backed down.

* * *

Far around the other side of the house, Caroline had just made an interesting discovery in the woods. In the ground, she had stepped on something quite hard. Brushing aside pine needles with her foot, she found a metal door that appeared to be the entrance to some kind of underground bunker. It was locked but she made quick work of that with her vampire strength.

Opening the metal doors, she found a stone staircase leading down into a dark bunker. She crept down the stairs and began searching for a light once she reached the bottom. Something brushed against the top of her head and she reached upwards, locating what felt like the string to switch on a light bulb. She grabbed the cord and pulled.

"Well hello, _beautiful_," Caroline said once the lights clicked on, illuminating the bunker fully. "Now, what do we have here?"

* * *

Hayley had managed to keep the peace… for about 30 seconds. After that, apparently one of the wolves looked at Klaus in a way he found inappropriate. He immediately hurled the man into a tree where they all heard his spine crack with a jarring snapping sound. Klaus was unperturbed, knowing he'd heal quickly enough. He honestly wished he had done more.

But if was going to kill one of them, he wanted to wait until Caroline had returned. He had only asked her to take a walk for the time he was speaking with the wolves, not needing any extra lip from her in the process. But they were clearly beyond the point of talking now, several more wolves were approaching him in response to his attack but they had the good sense to look nervous as hell.

"If I need to kill one of you to make my point, I _will_," he demanded. "It does appear that my message isn't really sinking in."

He was about to grab one of them when Caroline finally rounded the corner again.

"There you are, darling," he called out to her in greeting. "The real fun is just about to start."

_You bet it is, _she thought to herself.

Klaus _was _somewhat concerned that one of the wolves might bite her but, he reasoned, he could always just heal her with his blood. Caroline took a stand near Klaus, ready to do whatever he asked but, also preparing to _run. _It would be on Klaus to have the good sense to follow her.

"Do you hear that?" Jackson asked, abruptly, the feud briefly forgotten due to his alarm at this new sound. He was standing further away from the group, having rushed over to check on the fallen member of his pack that Klaus had thrown. He could only make out the sound very faintly. It was both soft and several hundred feet away. He was sure the only reason he could hear it at all was because of his newly heightened senses.

"Hear what?" Hayley called back, hearing the anxiety in her husband's tone. Caroline knew what he was hearing; it was the impending _tick, tick, tick _of her present to the wolf pack.

"It sounds like a-" he began but Caroline cut him off.

"NAPALM!" Caroline bellowed, gleefully, at the top of her lungs before ducking for cover behind Klaus's car, watching everyone around her getting blown back by the blast she'd set up. It was literally like watching a slow motion scene in a war movie. From behind the car — which swayed dangerously in the blast, threatening to turn over onto her had she not caught it and held it, using all of her strength — she saw Hayley fly backwards, the heat of the chemical blast scorching the skin of her face.

The second one — the _closer _one — would go off before the others had even a second to collect themselves so Caroline vamp sped out of the immediate vicinity while she still had the chance. She didn't know it but Klaus was close on her heels.

She slammed herself into a tree, laughing uproariously and trying to catch her breath as the second blast went off several hundreds of feet away. It vibrated the ground enough that, even at this distance, she was almost shaken off of her feet.

"_Caroline!" _Klaus railed, slamming himself into the tree next to her. "What on Earth were you _thinking?" _

"Oh, you didn't grab the baby mama?" she asked, not surprised that he'd made it out so quickly. "That's shocking!"

"Hayley can take care of herself," Klaus defected, not wanting to admit that, as usual, his own safety had seemed more important in the moment than Hayley's. Some selfish tendencies never changed, particularly in the very literal _heat _of the moment. Besides, he really did believe she could take care of herself and, with her new abilities she would be able to heal quickly. "But _answer _me, what kind of stunt was that!?"

"Um, you said you wanted to scare the wolves straight," Caroline responded. "I thought a little napalm might do the trick and even kill a few of them while I was at it. Plus, you _did _tell me to entertain myself!"

He groaned in frustration, gripping his hands into fists. Yes, he had wanted to show the wolves who was who but, in order for that to happen, he needed to be _in on _whatever little tricks Caroline had planned. She couldn't just surprise him with these things too!

He raked a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath to calm down before facing Caroline again, "Fine. But when we go back you better make damn well sure that you pretend I knew about this. The point of our coming out here today was to reestablish _my _authority over the wolves, not to show them that I can't control a single baby vampire!"

"But you _can't _control a single baby vampire," she argued. "I mean, seriously man. You've really lost your edge. Freaking out over a little napalm? Come on, it's every bit as fun as fireworks!"

It took every ounce of willpower he had not to slam her back into the tree right there and take her. He could show her what _real _control was. But a part of his subconscious wouldn't allow him to ignore that she was, essentially, correct. Loving humanity-less Caroline was quite a bit like owning a mad dog. You love it and you desperately want to keep it but, that doesn't change the fact that it keeps tearing apart all the furniture in your house and will bite anyone that comes near it. Right now, though, they didn't have time to argue it out or fuck it out, either way. And he did feel the nagging, oppressive obligation to look in after Hayley.

"Just come on," he said, preparing to head back but she grabbed his hand, holding him back. When he turned to look at her, she was pointing one finger up, indicating that they should wait a moment. Her eyes were scanning the trees in front of them.

"Just a second…" she said. As they waited several more seconds, a frown graced her features. "What the heck? I had those things rigged like-"

An echoing BOOM resounded through the air around them and the ground shook beneath their feet.

"Like clockwork!" she finished in joyous delight. In the air above them, in the distance, they could see trees exploding up from the ground, followed by the limp and dismembered form of someone's body parts. "Haaaa! Look at him go!" she exclaimed, pointing to the falling body in the air. "Wonder who _that _was?"

"Is that _it?" _he demanded. "Is your little show over now?"

"Yeah, we're all good," she said. "I just hooked up three."

"Let's go," he growled. "This better not have damaged my car."

* * *

**Thanks again to everyone for reviewing! Your reviews always give me so much to consider and rest assured that I give everyone's thoughts the time they deserve. I'm not sure I'll be able to get back to daily updates any time soon — may need to switch to weekly updates at some point — but I do plan to keep updating as often as possible and gentle nudges do go a long way! Love hearing from you guys. **


	11. Her Name Meant Death

**SPOILERS for Episode 2.16. **

**Previous chapters UPDATES: **_Reader meruhime dutifully pointed out a (potential) BIG canon error. In TO, the writer's have never stated that the members of the Crescent Clan _specifically_ become Hybrids. All we know for sure is that their curse is just broken, they have control over when they can turn, and they're stronger and faster, etc. TVD wiki tells me that they take on Hayley's hybrid powers but, until the show specifically says they have vamp speed and healing, I will err on the side of caution and not be referring to them as hybrids. I went back and rewrote that bit in the last two chapters to fix it. It in no way alters my plotline, so it's not necessary to go read the changed version but feel free if you're interested. I'll be moving forward with correction in mind in this chapter. _

* * *

"_There's too much demon blood in these self-appointed angels," _Demon Kitty Rag, _Katzenjammer_

_**11**_

_**Her Name Meant Death**_

Back at the wolves den — or _former _den, anyway — Hayley was reeling from the chemical blast. Her ears were violently ringing and the real noises around her were muffled. She was desperately trying to get her bearings but, not only was her vision blurred and her head spinning violently, she was trying not to pass out from the pain of a dangerous chemical burn searing away at the flesh of her face and her forearms.

Logically, she knew that the burns would heal relatively quickly thanks to her hybrid powers; the pain wouldn't last too long in the scheme of things. Knowing this, she tried to use her heightened senses to tune into what was going on around her. Agonized screams filled the air and the scent of blood was overpoweringly thick.

And amidst all the chaos, one thought pushed forth through the haze, clearer than the rest: _Would she still have done this if she hadn't been sure Hope was gone? _

Jackson had mentioned Hope's absence the moment Klaus had stepped out of the car. And as much as Hayley truly hated Caroline, she had wanted to believe that she would never do anything to hurt Hope. She had convinced herself that Caroline was too invested in her own safety to risk angering Klaus that way. But she just couldn't be sure.

She couldn't seem to push herself up off the ground. In the distance, through the smoke, she could see her relatively unscathed husband rushing around trying to tend to members of their pack. She knew he would be with her if he'd thought she was terribly hurt but even she could tell, despite the pain, that she was one of the lucky ones. Some of the pack members were almost certainly dead. Someone's leg had ended up near her. No one could survive being blown apart into little bits.

Rolling over onto her side to get a glance on what was going around behind her — that damn ringing in her ears was still discombobulating her enough to prevent standing — and she saw two sets of feet approaching from behind Klaus's overturned car. She recognized the high pointy heels of Caroline's black leather knee-high boots. As the ringing died down in her ears, she could even hear the little bitch laughing about the whole thing.

A strong hand reached down, grabbing her by her upper arm, and wrenched her to her feet. It was Klaus and, he was checking her eyes for any sign of severe damage. She could already feel the burnt skin on her face knitting itself slowly back together.

"You'll be fine," he told her softly and the statement immediately confirmed for her that this had been Caroline's plot alone.

But Hayley was ignoring him, choosing instead to glare behind him at the still smirking blonde. Klaus released his hold on her once he was sure she was steady on her feet. Jackson was still running all over the place trying to decipher who was dead or who was knocked out… which body parts belonged whom.

"You see, Jackson," Klaus began, calling out loudly in a fashion that suggested he was grandstanding, _"This _is what happens when you cross me. What you think are your strengths, I can use against you. If you try to stockpile weapons against me, I will find them. If you try to train against me, I will kill you. If you attempt to usurp me, I will see to it that you suffer every day for the rest of your life."

Jackson wasn't even facing him, still tending to a wounded friend, but he certainly heard the speech. His shoulders stiffened in anger though he made no reply.

Hayley was maintaining steady, steely eye contact with Caroline. The blonde's smile was only growing as Hayley's glare intensified. She wished she had the power of telepathy at that point. _I know it was you, _she thought to herself. _Klaus would never purposefully put me in danger like this. I'm the mother of his child. And he didn't even know about our weapons stockade; you found it, you goddamn bitch. _

"Well, it would appear you all need some time to think over our productive little discussion today," Klaus said while flipping his car back onto its four wheels with a lazy push. "I'll leave you to it then. Hayley, you know where to find me if the pack has any further questions. Ready, Caroline?"

"Let's roll, I'm hungry as hell," she replied, sliding into the sleek car's passenger door. Klaus followed behind her and they were off.

Watching them speed away, Jackson finally approached her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "After the first explosion I saw you clearing the area."

""I'm fine," she promised, pressing a gentle hand to her face to make sure everything was returning to normal. Jackson was much more hurt than she; he might even develop scars from his injury, she realized.

"Aiden is rounding up everyone who can still walk," Jackson told her. "We estimate only four dead. The whole thing was shoddily and quickly set up. Klaus must have gotten the girl to do it."

"Yes," was all Hayley said in response.

If Klaus wanted to pretend this had partially been his idea, she couldn't reveal the truth yet. He was apparently willing to let Caroline pull this little trick. So, if she angered him further by revealing he actually couldn't control Caroline, who knew what he'd do? He'd be angry, of course. It was one thing to have an emotionless Caroline ignoring his authority; it was another thing entirely to try to win back the respect of an entire pack after they discovered one pretty girl could trick him time and again.

It was a useful bit of information to have, for sure. Especially because Hayley wasn't sure she'd ever be able to entirely trust Klaus. If he turned on her or her pack again in the future, knowing one of Klaus's weaknesses was an incredible advantage. She wasn't willing to give that advantage up quite yet. Not when she thought she knew another way of getting Klaus to come round.

"There's only one thing that could possibly make Klaus come round on threatening the pack," Hayley said, following her husband to the crippled form of one of their pack members. The young woman was passed out, possibly dead. They began to move her into a clearer area of the wood, their small cabin now destroyed.

"Yeah?" he asked, skeptically. "What's that?"

"Caroline," Hayley answered simply.

Jackson would have laughed at her if the situation they found themselves in hadn't been so tragic.

"Hayley, Caroline isn't exactly in any mood to help us," he said. "She clearly helped Klaus set up this whole explosion."

"I know," Hayley said, lying by omission again when she didn't tell him her theory that the whole napalm disaster had been Caroline's fault alone. "That's why we need to make her turn her humanity back on."

* * *

Elijah could sense Klaus's anger as soon as he stormed through the door. Klaus had never been one to tone down his emotions. It was easy to tell when he was perturbed, much less outright agitated, like now.

"Klaus? What happened?" Elijah called after his brother as Klaus briskly walked up the stairs, taking two at a time. "Did you see Hayley's pack?" He already knew the answer.

"Did we _see _them?" Klaus asked from the stairs, not even turning around. "Elijah, we blew the whole pack up!"

"Huh, _right_," Caroline said behind him, standing next to Elijah in the foyer. "_'We' _blew them up." She made air quotes around the word "we."

Klaus whirled on her at her tone. "Caroline, you'd do well to curb your cheek for the next while," he spat out at her, his eyes flashing dangerously.

She put her hands up in silent acquiescence but, the moment Klaus had his back turned again, she leaned over to Elijah, whispering, "That's literally _impossible._"

Of course he heard her. He'd whirled around and vamp sped down the stairs, forcing her _hard_ back into a wall in less than a second, pressing his body dominantly against hers. Caroline's response was to seductively trail her fingers up his chest, knowing that she was probably the only person to ever have annoyed Klaus Mikaelson to this intensely and get away with it.

"See? I knew you weren't _too _mad," she cooed.

He snatched her wrist, roughly, to stop her touching him, "Caroline, if you do not stop this instant I will snap your neck just to be rid of your insolence for an hour."

"Klaus?" Elijah queried, totally confused, "What on Earth did she do?"

"While I was speaking with the wolves Caroline found a weapons stockade," Klaus explained, finally stepping back from Caroline to face his brother. "She set up three napalm bombs and killed several members of the Crescent Pack. All without letting _me _in on any of her plans."

Elijah let out a heavy sigh, pressing a hand to his temple. "Well at least she found what we did not know about," he reasoned and, then, asked, "Did we lose anyone important? Is Hayley alright?"

"Hayley is fine," Klaus responded. "And no, the lead pack members escaped the worst of the blasts. The point _is,_ Caroline just thought it a fine idea to pull out the whole production without informing me!"

"I mean, I _am _a drama major," Caroline inserted, helpfully. "Productions are kinda my thing."

Klaus growled and made a motion to turn towards her again but Elijah intervened, putting a hand up to stop his brother whose eyes were flashing like he almost might _hit _the girl. Elijah doubted very sincerely that he would but, either way, it would be best if he could keep Caroline from angering Klaus any further.

"Caroline, dear," Elijah began, placatingly, "I think it might be better if you left the compound for the next couple of hours. Do you think you can entertain yourself in The Quarter for awhile? _Without _stirring up any trouble?"

Caroline's inclination was to be incredibly offended by this patriarchal display but, after glancing at Klaus's still enraged face, she decided Elijah knew what he was talking about. She was well aware that Klaus had a penchant for daggering his siblings for decades at a time. There was no doubt in her mind that, if he were ever to become too upset with her, he could lock her up for _centuries _at a time.

"Sure," she said with a noncommittal shrug, "You have my number. Call me when… the drama has left the building." She looked at Klaus disdainfully with that last line but still slipped quickly from The Abattoir. Emotions off or not, Caroline knew when to start protecting herself. Considering the surprise she'd suddenly planned earlier that day had gone over so poorly, she wasn't tempted to keep pushing her luck for the time being.

After Caroline had shut the door behind her and Elijah had listened to her retreating footsteps to make sure she was truly gone, he finally faced Klaus again.

"Alright, brother," he said to Klaus, "Could you please outline this for me from the beginning? What happened today?"

* * *

Hayley did honestly believe that Caroline, as she had been in Mystic Falls with emotions and morals, would help Klaus to ease up on his pressure over the pack. Caroline had never been one to put up with Klaus's tyrant behavior in the past, anyway. Klaus was clearly head over heels for the girl and had been for some time. If Caroline both had her humanity on _and _stayed with Klaus, Hayley was almost certain she'd have a positive influence over his behavior. It was obvious that he'd do anything to make her happy and, as distasteful as Hayley found Caroline — humanity intact or not — she knew that the _real _Caroline would find Klaus's iron-fist ruling mentality unacceptable. If they could make the girl turn her humanity back on, perhaps she could teach Klaus how to rule fairly, instead of out of constant fear.

Besides, as distasteful as Hayley found Caroline, she certainly thought her easier to befriend than Klaus.

But that idea was a pipe dream for the time being. She hadn't a single idea how they could make Caroline turn her emotions back on so, they'd have to cross that bridge later. Right now she was simply dangerous. And it didn't appear to matter what she put Klaus through, he was hell bent on keeping her in the city. After all, the napalm explosions had _clearly _been Caroline's idea alone but Klaus had been completely content to play it off as if the whole idea had been his. If he was going to let Caroline play games like _that_, then Hayley was going to have to intervene on her own. And, right now, the _only _thing that would appeal to Caroline was cold, hard, logic.

Hayley had been milling around the street a few blocks from the compound for over an hour now. For all she knew, Caroline wouldn't even reappear that day and she'd have to try to catch her tomorrow. But then, the blonde appeared around the corner. She was heading from the compound back towards the more highly populated areas of The Quarter. She was still wearing the same clothes from earlier that day. A thin blouse over tight skinny jeans with skin-tight knee-high leather boots. It was an impressive get-up, given how hot it was today. She was finally starting to look more like a local.

Once Caroline had passed out of site, Hayley left her post to follow her. She was moving quickly and Hayley had to follow her scent to keep track of her. She could see why Marcel's Army had had such a hard time finding her the day she'd absconded to Atlanta for the afternoon. Caroline knew how to keep herself hidden, even obscuring her scent by bobbing in and out of particularly thick groups of tourists of the street.

For a moment, Hayley had thought she'd lost her. She turned another corner, hoping to catch the scent again, when she almost walked right into Caroline herself.

Caroline didn't move a muscle. She was staring at Hayley from beneath dark sunglasses, arms akimbo.

"Why are you following me?" she demanded, shortly.

"I was trying to find you," Hayley replied. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Caroline asked. "If you have an issue with what happened back in the woods today, take it up with Klaus."

_I think we both know I can't do that_, Hayley thought to herself, _Since it wasn't his plan. _But she didn't want to reveal that she knew this information quite yet.

"It's not about that," Hayley responded. It wouldn't have done any good to talk to Caroline about that stunt anyway.

"Then _what?" _Caroline spat, still highly suspicious.

"Can we just sit down somewhere to talk?" Hayley asked, frustrated. "Trust me, it's in both of our best interests."

Caroline rolled her eyes and sighed but nodded, turning around to lead Hayley into a bar a block up. They grabbed a table away from the main bar and Hayley accepted one of the beers that Caroline flagged down for the two of them.

After taking a hefty swig, Caroline finally gave Hayley her attention, "So? Talk."

"Caroline, we need to reach some sort of truce while you're here," she began.

"Oh? Do we?" Caroline asked. "I have to admit, I feel like you're only saying that because I've screwed you over — What is it? Three times — since I've arrived. You haven't leveled any damage to me, Wolf-Bitch. I see no reason for a truce."

Hayley prickled at being called Wolf-Bitch but she tried to shove aside the insult. Caroline was just trying to goad her into a fight.

"The only reason I _haven't _retaliated against you is because I'm the only one of the two of us, right now, with enough emotion to feel fear and, thus, common sense," she spat back. "My humanity isn't gone, which means I have the common sense to be realize it's a dangerous move to attempt to hurt Klaus's little _harlot." _

"Please Hayley," Caroline scoffed. "Tone down the fucking Mother Theresa act, why don't you? I'm not the one who had a baby out of wedlock with a guy you've frequently professed to dislike in the past."

"Professed to dislike in the past?" Hayley asked, enraged. "Check your hypocrisy at the door, Caroline."

"Responding to my insult with the _same _insult?" Caroline asked. "Sounds an awful lot like _projection_. But, my bad, that's a psychological term. I guess I can't expect someone who didn't even graduate high school to know what it means."

Hayley slammed a fist on the table after that particular jab, her lack of education always being a particularly sore spot for her. But she took a second to compose herself while Caroline snickered at her reaction.

"Look, Caroline," Hayley said with a heavy sigh, "I didn't find you because I wanted us to bitch at each other."

"Oh no…" Caroline replied with fake wide eyes, as if she was just now realizing something important.

"What?" Hayley asked, confused by her reaction.

"You're not here to tell me that you've secretly been in love with me this whole time, are you?" she asked. "Pulling a girl's pigtails when you like her sort-of-thing?"

Hayley rolled her eyes, "Would you please _shut up_ and just hear me out!" she yelled more than asked. Caroline just continued to laugh so Hayley pressed ahead, "There are some basic facts we need to acknowledge. I am the mother of Klaus's daughter. He's not going to get rid of me or overlook it if you try to. But he's obviously not going to get rid of you either."

Caroline, finally settling down from her laughing fit, nodded while she considered Hayley's words, "Okay, that's all true. I'm with you so far."

"So if we're both her to stay," Hayley continued, "What good does it do us to keep needlessly hurting one another?"

"Well," Caroline responded, immediately, without even needing to think, "First of all, I'm not getting hurt. You're the only one that's been smarting since I decided to come here. Second of all, you have limits to your retaliation against me. Maybe it's because you still have your humanity and I don't. Maybe it's just because you're more scared of Klaus than I am. Either way, you apparently have a lot more to lose than I do."

Hayley ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated. She had known Caroline to be a worthy intellectual opponent in the past — her quick thinking was far more intimidating than her rather limited baby vampire strength — but, without her humanity, she was nothing but quick and calculated thinking.

"Say you're right," Hayley acquiesced, trying a new method. "Say Klaus would let you do whatever you wanted without killing you. There are definitely things you could still do to make him lash out… make him banish you?" She let the question hang.

"You mean from New Orleans?" Caroline asked, quirking an eyebrow suspiciously at the brunette.

"You like it here, don't you?" Hayley asked. "You want to stay here, right?"

Caroline didn't answer. She was still staring the wolf down hard, wondering what she was playing at.

"I think I can help you make that happen, Caroline," Hayley said, holding her stare, unblinking. And then, unknowingly, she voiced Caroline's greatest fear. "And don't underestimate Klaus just because he has a thing for you. Sometimes having Klaus care about you can be the biggest danger itself. If you ever really upset him, he could easily lock you up and throw away the key. Who's to say he hasn't thought about it already?"

Caroline's jaw clenched at the suggestion. It wouldn't have affected her so much if she hadn't _literally _thought the very same thing right before she'd left the compound. Hayley was right; she was a part of Klaus's life now and he may very well even consider the wolf part of his family. All of these thoughts were just furthering her resolve to ultimately leave the city, despite how much she loved it there. But she couldn't just do that again out of the blue; he'd caught her too easily in Atlanta. No, her next escape would take better planning and, until she was actually able to leave, she'd have to tone down her game. She most certainly didn't want to be locked up and left to desiccate until Klaus decided to forgive her.

"Alright," Caroline conceded. "You're not _wrong_. What kind of truce are you suggesting."

Hayley smiled, taking an easy sip of her beer. So, she had been right. Logic _was _the only way to reach Caroline these days. That and playing off her current selfish nature, of course.

* * *

It was easy to understand why Klaus was so angry. For once his reaction didn't even seem overblown. Elijah himself had to consciously keep a cool head during the story.

"My god," he said when Klaus had finished. "What if Hope had been there?"

Klaus's eyes flashed dangerously, indicating the topic was not up for further discussion, "Jackson mentioned she was with Rebekah well before Caroline began setting anything up." It was clear this was the finite conclusion to that point of the conversation. Klaus wasn't willing to consider that Caroline would have gone through with it had Hope been there.

"Does the pack know?" Elijah asked, "That the whole thing was her plan."

"No, I told them it was mine," Klaus said. "I played it off like I had known they had a weapons stockade the whole time."

"Are you sure?" Elijah pressed, "No one suspected anything?"

"I think Hayley knew," Klaus admitted. "But she didn't say anything."

The two brothers stood in silence for a moment; neither knew quite how to progress. Finally, Elijah broke their thoughts.

"What are you going to do with her?" he asked. Klaus didn't acknowledge the question right away so Elijah continued, "Caroline can't very well get away with planting napalm bombs out of the blue, Klaus. If you turn a blind eye to this, who knows what she'll attempt next?"

"I am _aware _of that, Elijah," Klaus spat out in a rage. Pacing furiously around the courtyard in the compound. The truth was, he didn't have a clue how to get the girl under control.

Just then, they heard the front door bang open in the foyer and then slam shut. Through the doors into the courtyard in front of them, they saw Caroline reenter the building. Elijah nodded toward her form with a pointed glance directed towards Klaus. _Now's your chance. _

Still not knowing quite what he planned to do, Klaus stormed out of the courtyard and after her. She was headed up the stairs towards her room.

"_Caroline!" _he shouted after her. "If you think you can pull a stunt like that and then _waltz _back in here as if you own the place-"

Caroline whirled around the face him, only halfway up the stairs, "Klaus, you're right, I'm sorry."

He stopped his tirade almost instantly, genuinely surprised by what she was saying.

"Well, as sorry as I _can _be, anyway," she continued. "Which, granted, isn't much. But I _get _that blowing up your wolfpack out of nowhere doesn't exactly fall under your _'decent guest' _claus. If that's still the rule for my staying here, I won't do anything like that again."

Elijah had joined him at the foot of the stares. Klaus could feel him staring both of them down with unblinking and judgemental eyes.

"See that you don't," Klaus growled out at her in a threatening tone that would have had most people running for their lives, "Or there will be more for you to regret than losing your place in this house."

Caroline didn't respond. She just held his gaze long enough for him to know she'd taken in his meaning. Then she continued her journey up the stairs and into the bedroom, slamming her door and locking it behind her with a resounding _click. _

"Bravo, Klaus," Elijah said, both sarcastically and disappointedly. "We can certainly trust her now."

Klaus stormed off, heading to the kitchen to pull out some bourbon. He called back to Elijah as he did, "We just have to keep a closer eye on her. She is not to leave this house without our eyes on her."

* * *

Easier said than done, apparently, he found out the very next morning. This time, Klaus woke with a post-it on his forehead, a feat he couldn't even fathom how she'd managed to carry through without waking him. He peeled the paper off of him to read: _Going for muffuletta, be back later._

Infuriated, he lept from the bed and wrenched his door open, screaming out into the hall as he did, _"Elijah!" _He continued down the hall, not bothering to knock on his brother's door when he got there.

"Elijah, Caroline has left _again!" _he raged, only becoming angrier once he saw his brother was awake, Gia laying in his arms while he read the paper. "You're _awake?" _

"Thank you for knocking, Klaus," Elijah said, drolly. "You have always had such a deep respect for personal boundaries, haven't you?"

"Now is not the time for your sarcasm, Elijah," he replied. "While you have had a woman distracting your thoughts, Caroline has managed to slip past us without notice yet again."

"Yeah and, maybe, if she'd been distracting _your _thoughts," Gia said, jumping in, "She'd still be here right now."

Klaus's eyes flashed at the young vampire's insolence. He had half a mind to leave her with a nasty bite right then and there but, luckily, Elijah redirected his attention.

"Distracted as I might have been, she managed to escape your notice too, Klaus," he said. "So let's get to work finding her before she can do anymore damage."

* * *

Not wanting to chance Klaus's wrath so soon after the napalm explosions, particularly after the previous day's discussion with Hayley, so Caroline really had left to go get a muffuletta. She'd headed just a few blocks away to the famous Central Grocery which, apparently, made the best version of the classic sandwich. She supposed she could have waited a few extra minutes to wait for Klaus to wake. She even could have gotten him up herself.

The truth was, no amount of fear mongering from Hayley could quell Caroline's restlessness. Ever since she'd switched her emotions off, she had felt the near constant urge to stay on the move or to be doing something _new_. Her life was nothing but a selfish pursuit for pleasure anymore and, as such, the only thing she ever felt was to be experiencing new things. She'd never had the opportunity to live that way in the past. She was always thinking about others instead.

The line outside of Central Grocery was already long, even before noon. Caroline compelled her way further up the line but ultimately stopped to wait it out. The day was warm and the people surrounding her were interesting. She couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be.

But within twenty minutes of being in line, she felt the air stir restlessly around her. Vampires she recognized from Marcel's were surrounding the area, not even hiding the fact that they were watching her. Many of them were even filtering their way through the line, encroaching on her personal space. She resisted the very strong urge to speed out and snap some necks; it would just cause a scene and maybe get her in more trouble with Klaus.

And speak of the devil… suddenly he was beside her. He slid a possessive arm around her waist to grip her tightly, holding her into him with almost uncomfortable force.

"Morning, love," he whispered into her ear in a dark tone. "I thought I'd join you for breakfast."

_So this is how it's gonna be now_, she thought to herself.

This was no longer fun. She was going to need to work on a way out.

* * *

_**Important! Beta Request! - **__So the error that meruhime pointed out about last chapter is the second major canon error I've had in this fic. (The first was pointed out by elisalolo6120 about chapter 7). Honestly, trying to keep plots of both TVD and TO in mind, when both shows have a million major plots and subplots, I trip up pretty frequently even when I try to do my research to double check everything. So, I am in search of a beta! Anyone that's interested, please let me know in the comments and provide me some way to contact you if you're not logged into the site. I'd like to ask anyone potentially interested a few questions to make sure we'd be a good fit. If no one here is interested, I'll go through the site's beta pages but, your incentive is… getting to read chapters first and getting to virtually crack the whip on me like a workhorse!_


	12. In Hades's Realm

"_I'd like to grab you by the hair and drag you to the devil," _\- Hang You From The Heavens_, __The Dead Weather_

_**12**_

_**In Hades's Realm**_

* * *

Caroline wrenched herself away from Klaus's grip, which felt tight enough to bruise. She felt abruptly smothered and trapped and it was leaving an unpleasant, acrid taste in her mouth. Klaus was legitimately scaring her. She hadn't seen him look so serious in his anger since he'd been hunting for Katherine. There was no affection there for her anymore or, at least, there didn't appear to be. All she could sense from him was a dangerous air of possessiveness and, of course, anger. She'd pushed him too far. He'd lulled her into a sense of security, seeming such a toned-down version of his former self now that he'd become a father, but she'd been wrong to let down her guard. She never should have come.

_You have to get out of here, _she resolved to herself. She hurried out of the line at Central Grocery more to get some space from him than anything else. She obviously knew there was no way to escape for the time being. But if he was going to follow her everywhere like this, she was going to need every extra second of space she could get. Predictably, he'd caught up to her in just a few moments, grabbing her hand tightly in his own. He was squeezing her fingers hard enough to make her wince and he jarringly pulled her in the opposite direction, dragging her along after him like a dog on a leash.

Vampires around The Quarter were passively watching them; some of them were smirking. These were the same people that had seen Klaus kill off a dozen or more vampires coming at him, all at the same time, when Marcel had initially tried to battle Klaus for authority over the city. It was shaming, then, for all of them to see that same man almost brought to submission by a single baby vampire. He was finally snapping out of it.

"Where do you think you're _going?" _Klaus asked, laughing at her, his voice hard and mean, "I said I came to join you for breakfast. Although I would agree to a change in venue, I do hate to dine when I can't sit and engage with my company properly."

On that note, he vamp sped them just a few blocks away back towards the center of The Quarter. They stopped outside of a clearly very upscale establishment. Wait staff was flitting in and out of the restaurant with iced drinks, serving customers in tables outside the building to enjoy the morning. Caroline could not match their easy, relaxed demeanors, not with Klaus dragging her along like an animal.

He'd brought her to a huge, old-fashioned building with iron-worked railings along the balconies outside. Stepping into the swanky restaurant, they were walking on checkered white and black marble floors.

"Napoleon House really is much nicer," Klaus said, leading them in. He'd dropped her hand but only to lock her to his side with an arm slung around her shoulder to appear casual, though the intensity of his hold suggested otherwise. She was trying to shrug off his tight hold as they walked but his grip was unshakeable. They walked up to the maitre'd where Klaus quickly compelled him, "We'll take a booth, now."

Without question the man picked up two menus and beckoned for them to follow while saying, "Right this way, sir."

At their table the host set a menu on each side of the booth but Klaus quickly shuttled her into one side and then sat down on the same side, right next to her, leaving her nowhere to escape between himself and the wall.

"Your server will be with you shortly," the host told them, picking up the second menu from the far side of the table and setting it in front of Klaus.

"Thank you," Klaus replied, pleasantly. But despite his courteous demeanor, the air was still sour around them.

And he was sitting too close to her, encroaching on her personal space under the guise of being a lover when she knew very well that he was not currently holding her in that regard. Sensing her unease, he looked over to her while wearing the most sinister smile Caroline had ever seen in her life. He reached over to point at the menu.

"There, the muffuletta," Klaus said. "That's what you wanted, isn't it, love?"

His eyes were gleaming with satisfaction over how the tables had turned. She hadn't before but, now, Caroline had the good sense to be scared as fuck. She could honestly say she'd never been more afraid in her life. What did he have in store for her? Before Caroline could answer him, a bubbly waitress was at their table pouring water into their glasses.

"Hi, welcome to Napoleon House," she began. "My name is Br-"

"-Well take two Pimm's Cups and one muffuletta to split," he said, interrupting the waitress and pointedly turning his attention back to Caroline, indicating that the waitress was to disrupt their intimacy as little as possible.

Of course, it didn't feel like intimacy. It felt like an invasion, like her entire sense of self was going to be dictated solely by Klaus from now on. How had she overlooked the potential of that happening before she came? She'd overestimated his love for her. _Or underestimated it_, she thought to herself, dully. Hayley's words from their previous conversation echoed in her thoughts — _sometimes having Klaus care about you can be the biggest danger itself. _

"Dear, Caroline," Klaus simpered, in an exaggerated placating tone, "You look quite unwell. Whatever is the matter?"

"Gee, I wonder," Caroline hissed back. "I have an army of vampires and wolves tailing me, you breathing down my neck every second, and bruises from you clamping onto me like an abusive husband. Seriously, why _am _I upset?"

She was almost afraid he'd be angry with the sarcasm; it had come out without thinking. But Klaus didn't bat an eye. Instead he just chuckled at her reaction, glowering down at her darkly.

"Sweetheart, after the shit you've been putting all of us through since you arrived, you're lucky to only have bruises right now," Klaus growled.

"I know you're upset about what happened in the woods - I was only trying to help!" she insisted. "You said you wanted to get the wolves in line and I _did."_

"Don't lie to me, love," Klaus spat back. "I'm in no mood for any more of your games or manipulation. We both know that everything that transpired with the pack was solely for your amusement. If I'd been blown apart myself, you could not have cared less!"

_And don't I wish you had, _she thought to herself. Klaus was turning out to be no better than her old friends in Virginia. Apparently her humanity was going to be an ultimatum with him, as well. But ultimatums were far more dangerous with Klaus than your childhood friends.

The waitress returned in stony silence, apparently offended by Klaus's earlier abrupt dismissal, and she dropped their cocktails onto the table in front of them before briskly walking away. Caroline took an immediate hefty swig of hers, noting within the first sip that the alcohol content was not high. She sorely needed a good drink at this moment.

"How do you like it?" Klaus asked her, when she'd set the glass down.

"It's fine," she answered, shortly. In truth she could barely taste it, her mind was so preoccupied.

"Oh, you're not chatty at _all _today, are you?" he asked, still patronizing her. "Whatever is the matter, dear Caroline?"

She wanted to tear into him right there. Not caring that it wouldn't do any good, all of her instincts were telling her to fucking _drain _this threat sitting next to her. She clenched her fists at her sides, knowing there was nothing she could conceivably do while he had her here. Klaus noticed her tightened muscles.

"_Well, _you don't seem to be feeling well," he pretended to sympathize. "Don't worry, they're usually fast here. We'll be back _home _in no time."

Caroline's stomach knotted tightly at his use of the word 'home.' She doubted she'd be able to eat a bite.

* * *

The Abattoir was flooded when they returned home. Members of the vampire army in the city were milling about, some taking instructions from Elijah and Marcel. As they pulled up the driveway, Caroline noticed Hayley standing near the front entrance, a suitcase in hand. Behind her, in the foyer, Jackson was carrying Hope inside.

"Did I not mention?" Klaus asked, casually, when he noticed her glances at everyone, "Living situations are about to change again. My family will be moving back in with me," he said. "And I think you can imagine... the multitude of things I might do, if you do anything to threaten them. Not that you'll be able to, of course."

He stepped out of the car and she followed him.

"No, Caroline," Klaus continued. "You won't be able to do much of anything. As long as you have your humanity off, you'll be under surveillance all day, every day."

"Klaus," Caroline began, trying to reason with him, "I told you I wouldn't do anything like the napalm bombs again. I meant it."

"Yes, I'm sure you did," he agreed, not sounding at all convinced, "But then you snuck out again this morning and I suddenly had no idea if you'd been lying or not. I'm not going to take that chance a second time."

"So? What? I just have to do whatever you tell me, now?" she asked, disbelieving this could really be happening.

"Essentially, darling, that's the gist of it," Klaus responded with a broad smile, "Come on inside now."

She followed him in, past Hayley, who was studiously avoiding eye contact as Caroline glared out at her. _You bitch, what happened to that so-called truce? _She fumed, silently, _you fucking backstabber. _She'd been tricked by Hayley before, back in Mystic Falls, when the wolf had snapped her neck in the bathroom. Caroline had thought herself too smart for her now but apparently their conversation the previous day had all been a ruse.

Hayley, for her part, was no happier about the situation than Caroline and didn't consider the truce off, herself. She was _also _having her hand forced by Klaus. Neither Jackson nor herself felt comfortable living with humanity-less Caroline, even if Klaus _did _have her on lockdown. She had really been hoping that she would have time to think of a plan to get Caroline's emotions back on; now it seemed unlikely she'd even be able to speak with her alone. At least, not any time soon.

Klaus led Caroline back up to her bedroom where four of Marcel's vampires were stationed around her double doors.

"You look like you could use a rest, love," Klaus told her as he opened the door to her room. "I'll fetch you when it's time for dinner."

_It's not even noon_, Caroline thought to herself but, before she could argue Klaus had shut her into the bedroom alone and closed the door behind him. She heard a lock click into place. Well, he hadn't buried her in a catacomb yet bu,t that seemed a potential next step if she messed up again. He was just going to leave her here.

She had no idea what to do.

* * *

Now that Hayley was moving back in with her husband and Hope, Elijah would be moving back to Algiers. They'd passed each other several times in the hall but tension had been too high before Klaus's return to actually talk. Once he'd arrived back home with Caroline, he'd quickly holed up in his study, likely drinking. Finally, Elijah had his chance to approach Hayley.

"Do you think this is safe?" Elijah asked her while Jackson was finishing unpacking upstairs. "After what she did to the pack?"

"Have you gotten a good look at her?" she asked. "Elijah, I've never seen her like this. She looks terrified. She'd be out of her mind to try anything."

"If there's anything I've come to understand about vampires without their humanity, it's that it comes all too naturally to them to behave insanely. That's how rippers are made," he said.

"You do have more experience with this," Hayley conceded, "But I really don't think she's a threat. I think she's just figuring out a way to get out of here. Trust me on this Elijah."

He looked at her softly; her eyes were blazing. She was clearly anxious about everything, as was he — or anyone else with a minute amount of sense. He had already seen several of Marcel's vampires or members of the pack already looking more annoyed with the situation than rightfully on edge. If they were smart, they'd curb their attitudes around Klaus or find themselves dead.

"Alright, I will defer to your judgment," he told her, "But I still don't think it will be so easy. How are you so sure that this is safe?"

"Honestly?" Hayley asked. "The fear in her eyes right now is the most real thing I've seen from her since she got here. What if this can turn her emotions back on?"

"I don't know," he said. "I've seen her resolve. She would escape before she turned her humanity back on and, who knows what lengths she'd go to in order to make an escape?"

"She's not going to do anything too serious when Klaus has her on lockdown like this," she replied. "She couldn't if she tried. Part of Marcel's Army is here, my pack will be by too and, if she comes after me, I'm a hybrid. All I have to do is bite her. It's up to Klaus to revive her or not."

Elijah considered this. He was worried about Hayley and, Hope too, nonetheless. He wondered under what circumstances she and Jackson had been forced to return. Hayley wasn't one to be easily forced into anything. But, ultimately, he agreed that Hayley could take care of herself. He nodded.

"Alright," he conceded. "But call me if anything arises. Klaus will act on his temper too easily. You'll need to keep me informed if we don't want things getting out of hand."

She nodded in response and watched him turn to leave.

Hayley watched him exit the compound feeling conflicted. Elijah did have a way of reasoning with Klaus that no one else did. After her discussion with Klaus on respecting Jackson's authority as alpha, she didn't feel like she needed to be testing his patience, currently, either.

* * *

It was hours later before someone finally knocked on Caroline's door. She'd fallen asleep while lounging on her bed and looking out the window, having nothing else to do. She considered she could have put on music but her mood was far too pessimistic at the moment. Besides, she really needed to be free of distraction to plan her way out. And currently, though, it had seemed hopeless and she'd fallen asleep in fitful distress.

The knock wrapping at her door startled her awake from thick, unpleasant dreams. Shaking them off, she opened the door. Klaus was standing there, dressed nicely in a black suit and tie. He frowned when he saw her.

"Caroline, you're a wreck," Klaus said distastefully. She'd slept in her clothes and everything was likely rumpled.

Klaus brushed past her, into the bedroom, dragging her along. He flipped on her light switch and shut the door behind them, where the vampires stationed outside of her door had been watching them.

"Alright, brush your hair and get undressed," he ordered.

"_What?" _Caroline asked, appalled that she'd just been ordered to strip without complaint.

"You heard me, love, just do it," Klaus replied. "The others are already at dinner. You won't be late again."

Caroline choked back a retort, knowing it was better not to argue for the time being. Picking a brush off of her dresser, she quickly ran it through her hair, ready for this charade to be over with. She remembered their conversation in the hotel in Atlanta. Klaus had asked her to return home with him; Caroline had replied that she didn't have one. This certainly didn't feel like her home now either; it felt like her prison. And she was itching to escape.

He was looking through her closet while she stepped out of her jeans and crumpled white camisole. His back was to her but Caroline was well aware that he knew she was stripping behind him. She stopped when she got to her bra and panties. At the same time, Klaus turned around with a demure navy blue cocktail dress. He stepped towards her, holding the frock up to her frame. He was standing very close; he smirked when he noticed her breathing hitch.

"This should be perfect," Klaus said, handing her the frock.

After Caroline accepted the dress from his hand, he reached up to pull her to him by the back of her head, in a motion that suggested he might kiss her. At the last second, he turned his face into her neck instead, breathing in her scent deeply and possessively. He was showing her that he could do whatever he liked.

She _hated _him right now: for making her feel this way, for _keeping _her like this. And, god, her head was spinning with all these thoughts but was there something _wrong_ with her for being a little _turned on _by all of it? From the moment she'd arrived to the city, she'd hoped to have Klaus at his worst. She'd come to him because she expected him not to care about her humanity being off. Well, he certainly didn't anymore. Yet, he still _clearly _cared about her, in some capacity. That was why he was keeping her here, wasn't it? And, now, she finally had him at his worst.

It was dominance that was getting to her. When she had her emotions on, Caroline had never been interest in dominance displays with men. They were flashy, obnoxious, and unnecessary. But, apparently with her humanity off, it awakened something new inside of her.

Despite any errant lust she was feeling, Caroline was careful to keep a clear and cool head. This was _not _the time to be warming Klaus's bed. The only thing she needed to be thinking about right now was a way out of here. And with guards right at her door, she hadn't the foggiest idea of how to manage an escape.

"There you go," Klaus said, as he noticed her regain control of her breathing. He'd clearly affected her in an entirely different manner than instilling fear. The whole display had been very subtle but, it had been enough for him to realize: It was going to be very fun seeing how long it took _her _to hold out, this time around. "I'll meet you downstairs in five minutes. Your new friends outside will escort you, regardless of if you're ready or not. So be ready."

* * *

"Our new guest isn't joining us?" Hayley asked when Klaus entered the courtyard alone and took his seat at the head of the banquet table.

"She'll be along shortly," he replied, taking his seat and throwing a napkin onto his lap.

"What exactly is it you're _doing_, Klaus?" Hayley demanded. "With Caroline, with _us? _Are we all supposed to pretend to be one big, perfect happy family?"

"Did you _want _your daughter to be separated from her father any longer than she had to be?" Klaus snarled at her in response.

"That's not what I asked," she said.

"I don't _care _what you asked because my answer is the only thing that matters," he responded flatly. "I'm sure as long as you stay out of each other's way until Caroline turns her emotions back on, everything will be just fine." He said it in a tone that suggested it was more of an order than a prediction.

"Good luck getting that to happen," Hayley replied, watching Caroline make her way across the outdoor second floor balcony about the courtyard and begin to make her way down the stairs to meet them.

"There you are, Caroline," Klaus said, in a syrupy pleasant tone, a more sinister undercurrent still lacing each of his words. "You look lovely but please don't keep us all waiting in the future. Come, take a seat by me."

He gestured to a seat at the table at his right. She made her way over to the table silently. Watching each other warily, everyone else took their seats around the table too. Hayley and Jackson sat at the far end, away from Klaus and Caroline. Hope was already in bed for the evening and members of both the pack and Marcel's army were guarding the courtyard. The air was tense between the four of them at the table.

Klaus gestured to a compelled member of staff standing outside the foyer. Three waiters emerged with glasses, placed in front of Klaus, Hayley, and Jackson. One waiter poured wine for Jackson while the other two cut deep gashes into their wrists, letting their blood spill out over the glasses. When the glasses were full, Klaus wordlessly waved them away.

Neither Jackson nor Hayley said anything, instead exchanging awkward glances. It definitely did not go unnoticed that Caroline was not being fed. Jackson, for his part, was ready to tear Caroline apart after what she'd done to his pack. She had killed four of his family. However, after the unceremonious _order _they'd received, telling them to return to Klaus's compound, now did not seem the safest time to confront Caroline. Ultimately, Klaus broke the silence after taking a deep, slow drink from his glass. He turned toward Caroline.

"Oh and, by the way, you'll eat once you've shown that you can behave yourself," he said simply. "You understand, I'm sure."

Anger, hot and focused, hit Caroline in a powerful flash. How long would she be subjected to this before she was able to make her escape?

* * *

The next day, Hayley and Jackson went out for a day with Hope. It wasn't surprising that they weren't anxious to hole up at the compound. The air in The Abattoir was clouded with unease, making everyone skittish. It didn't help that Klaus was stalking about the place, glaring viciously at anyone who so much as attempted to make eye contact. Mostly he would take reprieve in his study, day drinking whiskey in a volatile temper. Further, they figured, Hope didn't need to see her father in such cruel mood, no matter how young she was.

Caroline, of course, had been confined since the previous evening's dinner. It would have been horrendously boring had she not be scared senseless. The fear gave her the drive to work more efficiently. She knew she could design a plan to escape; she just needed to get her bearings. This, first, involved understanding who was guarding her.

From the simple act of listening — _really _listening, with her heightened senses acutely tuned in, almost like meditating — she had heard and gotten a good sense of everyone in the house in the past 13 hours. Initially dozens of vampires and wolves had been shuffling around the place but, as of that morning, the number had dwindled to slightly over half that size. There were four stationed at points around the compound on the street, five at random points in and outside of the house, and three outside her door. They seemed to be rotating in shifts of about five to six hours. She'd recognized most of them from around the city or from the few parties to which she'd been.

Hayley's pack had left early that morning followed by Hayley, Jackson, and Hope themselves not long after. Now, the house was empty save for herself, Klaus, and the remaining few members of Marcel's Army. Now, she was working to analyze their movements, assess for any predictable patterns. Klaus would get up from his study every thirty or forty minutes to either head to the kitchen or briefly outside only to quickly stomp back to whatever he was doing, holed up in there.

Caroline still hadn't been brought anything to eat or drink. Some water would be greatly appreciated at this moment. She didn't really _need _water — she needed blood. But blood was obviously not in the cards for her at this particular moment so she actually resorted to drinking from the faucet of the sink in her bathroom, to ease the dry mouth. Something movies never taught you about kidnapping — there was _nothing _glamorous about it, not even in a damsel in distress way. She considered herself lucky for having a private bath attached to her room. Caroline had been lying in the floor of her room, ear pressed to the ground to listen, when she heard the front door open. She recognized the proud, confident stride immediately. Elijah had returned.

Downstairs, Klaus was still drinking. But, in something of a positive turn, he was painting. It was nothing like his usual work. It was completely abstract, harsh brushstrokes of the deepest black and a vibrant, angry red. The canvas was smeared with severe swaths of paint thrown almost haphazardly onto it.

Klaus heard the door open and could guess who it was. As the figure approached behind him, his senses confirmed his suspicions. His guest took a post in the doorway of the room, observing him silently for a few seconds before he spoke.

"You were so happy to see her," Elijah said, finally.

Klaus kept his back turned, focused on the canvas but, he replied with a simple, "Yes."

"It…" Elijah chose his next word carefully, "It blinded you."

"It made me _weak!" _Klaus hissed, abruptly rising and throwing his glass into the wall, where the liquor splattered on the dark wallpaper.

"No, Niklaus," Elijah said, stepping forward. "Love doesn't have to make you weak. It can but, only if you let it."

"Then it's worse," he railed. "I _let _it make me weak."

"You will only let it make you weak if you shut it out entirely," Elijah replied. "Love can make you so much stronger, Klaus, when you share it selflessly."

"Yes, well, pity she doesn't have her humanity then," he snapped, obviously still referring to Caroline. "Because I _have _been sharing myself selflessly and there's nothing in her that wants what I'm offering."

"So, naturally, you thought the best way to get her to turn her humanity back on would be by locking her up?" Elijah asked.

"It's not about that anymore," Klaus said. "She clearly has no plans to bring her emotions back. Now, she's just too dangerous to trust."

"So why not banish her?" he asked. "If neither of you can give the other what you need, why keep her here? You're torturing her and yourself!"

Klaus finally faced him them, looking at his brother with a deep hurt in his eyes, "Because I cannot bear to let her go."

Upstairs Caroline could only catch snippets of the conversation. The brothers were careful to speak in low tones, likely knowing that she'd be listening. She did hear Klaus lash out, though, and throw a glass into the wall. The sound made her skin prickle. He still wanted her humanity back on.

Terrified as she was now, it only made her more certain that she could never let him win.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I was on the fence about addressing a thought one reader brought up in the reviews because I don't want to give anything away but… (SEMI-SPOILER) I don't really think this is particularly going to come as a shocker to anyone. Obviously, I'm not going to make Hayley successful in her attempt to turn Caroline's humanity back on. I really don't know in what universe I would ever even have considered that an option but, it's not.**

**And WELCOME, to my new editor / beta titieli! The newest delay in my update was finding a beta; I really didn't want to proceed without one. Titieli has been so patient with me, working through ideas before I even send her a draft. I owe her a huge round of applause and anyone who enjoyed this update does as well. Be sure to check out her Dark Side / Dark Inside series… a TVD OC fic that I adore! **


	13. When Famine Strikes

"_Strumming my pain with his fingers. Singing my life with his words. Killing me softly with his song," _\- Killing Me Softly with His Song, _The Fugees _

_**13**_

_**When Famine Strikes**_

* * *

It had started as the faintest of flickers but, now, one thing was troublingly clear to Caroline — her emotions were coming back. Not with a bang, as they had for Elena, but like a slow, drawn-out burn. If she were being honest with herself, she'd been feeling shades of emotion, stronger and stronger, since Klaus had begged her on his knees to flip her switch.

She'd always known humanity-less vamps could feel _some _things, of course. Annoyance seemed to be paramount. Elena without emotions had zero patience for any bullshit. Stefan had outright rage issues, hence his becoming a ripper. Funnily, the vampire she most identified with at this current moment was Katherine. Katherine had clearly spent centuries feeling acute fear, on the run from Klaus. The difference was, while Caroline was officially afraid of Klaus, she wasn't sure if her fear was the only catalyst behind her emotions creeping slowly back in. She had a new sneaking suspicion that Klaus might simply have been her emotional trigger, in which case she needed to get out even more than before.

She never would have expected it, not given everything going on when she left college. She had been interested in Stefan _not_ Klaus. She and Klaus had buried any lingering feelings back in the woods the first time they'd made love, hadn't they? After flipping her switch, Klaus had just seemed a logical and welcoming point of escape but certainly not her _trigger. _

Still, Caroline realized that Klaus had changed since she'd last seen him. He was no longer total blackness, as she'd so frequently worried before. She had always desperately wanted to see some good in Klaus. In the past, she sometimes _thought _she had but then he would inevitably find some way to ruin it — killing people she cared about, forcing them all into impossible situations just to do his bidding, or even making threats against her own life. Now, with Hope and the semblance of a _real _family (not a collection he kept daggered and entombed), Caroline was seeing everything her former self had professed to always want out of Klaus. The trouble was, she wasn't that girl anymore... But, _that _Caroline must have still been buried somewhere inside of her because she was definitely taking notice and she was trying to force the new Caroline to see it too.

On the bright side, with him treating her like this, he wouldn't be worming his way back into her heart anytime soon. Fear was an emotion yes but one necessary for her survival. And, in terms of keeping her humanity as off as possible, fear was certainly preferable to feelings of puppy love. New love could make you feel more intensely than ever before, everyone knew that, particularly vampires. _Love is a vampire's greatest weakness_, she reminded herself.

But, completely suppressing any emotions she might have been feeling for the past hour that morning, Caroline had kept a clear head to keep listening around the house. Elijah had somehow, against all reasonable predictions, managed to get Klaus out of the house after their talk in the study. Caroline, despite concentrating her senses, had really only caught bits and pieces of the conversation but she knew Klaus was still raging on about her behavior. His distrust was intense, ever since she'd planted the napalm. Further, it was clear he still wanted her humanity going back on.

It occurred to her that maybe she could trick him. If he thought her humanity was back, surely he'd let her out? And then she could make a run for it... That was a dangerous game, though. He might never stop pursuing her and then she really _would _become no better off than Katherine.

Before she'd had a further chance to think through that option, though, she'd distinctly heard Klaus leave with Elijah. They both had easily recognizable footsteps; Klaus even had a distinct way of slamming his door behind him. And the she'd heard the familiar thrum of his car's ignition as they left the compound.

Well, best not to get ahead of herself anyway, she decided. Before you could run you had to learn to crawl and then walk. And right now, she just needed a way to get out of this room.

* * *

Somehow, Elijah had cajoled him into leaving the compound to come across the river for a drink in Algiers. Truly, he didn't think it at all good for Klaus to sit around the home stewing about Caroline while the girl was in easy reach. He was likely to fly off the handle and do things he regretted.

"I don't understand what you hope to accomplish," Klaus said as they took a seat a table in a bar in Algiers, "Here or there, I'm going to be drinking whiskey."

"Why don't you slow down, at least while you're here?" Elijah asked, flagging them down two beers instead of any more hard liquor.

Klaus begrudgingly accepted the bottle taking a long swig of it before setting it back down.

"You can't preoccupy all the vampires in The Quarter forever, Niklaus," Elijah started, after a thoughtful second. "I know you do not trust Freya but even you must agree that Dahlia is a threat. We may need our people on the streets if she is to return for Freya."

"I've less people at the compound now than I did yesterday," Klaus argued. "And not a member of Hayley's pack remains. Not to mention, I feel I've told you too many times before that I don't care what happens to Freya."

"Be that as it may, who knows what Dahlia might do to the rest of us, or this city, just to get her back," he reasoned. "She might even be a threat to Caroline."

"Caroline can certainly take care of herself," Klaus growled back immediately.

"Not while she's locked in a room, like a sitting duck," Elijah returned. Klaus's eyes flashed, not having a response to Elijah's cogent argument. Elijah took it as a sign to press ahead, "And you do realize that even if she turns her emotions back on at this point, she may not forgive you?" he asked his brother, "Caroline is not one to remain a kept woman."

"You, of all people, should not underestimate my ability to keep the people I care about under lock and key," Klaus hissed back.

"So then your plan is to keep her your prisoner?" Elijah asked, incredulously. "If that's what you have in mind, let me assure you that you're throwing away what you've professed to want most this whole time — her love. That is no acceptable way to treat a woman you care for, Klaus!"

"I don't have her love either way," he spat back. "You might not have noticed but my being indulgent with Caroline hasn't done me any favors either."

Elijah considered this quietly. His brother was putting on a good show of anger and frustration — emotions he was undoubtedly experiencing genuinely — but Elijah could see that it was mostly a mask for the deep pain with which Klaus was grappling.

"I'm not sure you're right about that, Klaus," he replied. "I think the most emotion any of us ever saw out of Caroline since her arrival was always around you. Now since you've locked her up, she's only slipped further away. She's becoming a shell."

Klaus ran a frustrated hand through his hair, pacing about the room, "Then what am I supposed to do? After everything she's done, I can't trust her to roam the city free."

"You know what you have to do Klaus," Elijah said softly.

Klaus stopped avoiding Elijah's eyes to give him his full attention. Klaus wore an expression suggesting that he didn't know what Elijah was referring to but his eyes told a different story. The wounded look he was unknowingly flashing told Elijah that his brother had known what needed to be done for some considerable time now.

"You need to banish her from the city," he finished for Klaus, holding his steady gaze, "And she cannot come back until her humanity comes back on."

"Until? What if she never turns it back on? Or if she does and never wants to return?" he asked.

"Then you will likely never see her again and you will suffer but move on," Elijah replied. "And as hard as that could be you'll be sparing yourselves both a lot of pain in the long run."

Klaus sighed before abruptly standing from the table and briskly walking past Elijah and towards the door of the establishment, calling behind him as he did, "Maybe you are right, Elijah. I will think on your council. But I will not be acting upon it today."

Elijah watched his brother walk out before settling their tab and following him out. All things considered, the conversation had gone surprisingly well. At least Klaus was going to consider what he'd suggested. But, for everyone's sake, he hoped Klaus would make up his mind sooner rather than later.

* * *

When Caroline finally opened her door, she found exactly what she'd expected. Three vampires outside her door immediately turned into the doorframe to face her. They all had guns, undoubtedly filled with wooden bullets. She recognized the two women as the twins that had followed her the day she'd gone to get a passport. She'd made a point of learning more about them since then.

They were identical twins, women who had somehow been turned when they were in their 50's. It was strange as most vampires were turned before age 40, do to declarations of love, lust, and attractiveness and so forth. They were well known around town as pool sharks and they were rumored to have won their transformation in a game. They were genuinely skilled at pool but these days, frequently won using compulsion if they happened to actually lose. It was said they made so much money that they didn't even need to form an allegiance with Marcel; they just wanted to stay in New Orleans safely and permanently.

They both had boyfriends. One was dating an older alcoholic vampire, Shannon, who had a woman's name for no explainable reason. Caroline hadn't seen him at any point, so far, during her stay. The second twin was dating Caroline's third guard. He, apparently, had 'accidentally' cut off a man's arm during a bar fight, using a machete but, that was _before _he'd become a vampire. Klaus and Marcel certainly had picked the most backwoods scum-of-the-earth to guard her, she realized without enthusiasm.

"I'm not trying to leave," Caroline said, the moment the three of them had cocked their guns. "Klaus just told you not to let me leave the compound, right?"

The three guard exchanged glances, not confirming her guess but not outright denying it either.

"Look, I've been stuck in here for almost two days," she continued. "I'm not trying to leave; I just need to stretch my legs. Surely it doesn't defy your orders to accompany me on a walk around the house?"

Her guards exchanged noticeable glances again before one of the twins finally directed her attention towards Caroline, "Fine. If there's any funny business, we'll shoot you through the heart."

Caroline made a girl scouts honor hand-motion and pressed forward to walk down the stairs with her guards trailing behind her. Their threat was a laugh. Klaus was mad at her sure but she felt confident that everyone in the house was still on strict orders to keep her alive.

At first they'd just lapped around the house, in and out of the courtyard. It gave Caroline an even better sense of where the rest of Marcel's vampires were stationed around the house and their routines. Everyone was exchanging glances as if they were extremely worried that she shouldn't be out at all. Caroline knew they were right, only because she was cataloging so much information for her escape.

She didn't even bother trying to head to the kitchen, knowing everyone probably had their orders about her and blood bags. But, at this point, she was more interested in assessing the house anyway.

But then, catching her very suddenly as she rounded a corner in the hall, was Klaus. Her heart leapt into her throat as she immediately processed the thought: _Oh, fuck. _She hadn't heard him return. Behind her, her guards also stopped short and one of the twins gasped audibly.

His eyes darkened when he saw her but he didn't make a motion to do or say anything. Truthfully, his conversation with Elijah was still fresh in his mind and he didn't want to do anything to further distance her until he decided what to do next.

Caroline, certain after a few moments that he wasn't going to bite her head off, decided to chance conversation. Who knew when she'd get a chance to speak with him next? She didn't get very far, though.

"Klaus-" she began but he silenced her by putting up his hand. He was too out of sorts to assess anything she might have to say to him right now.

Instead, he addressed her guards; "It's fine if she wants to walk around the house. She can eat in the kitchen if she's hungry."

With that he hurriedly brushed past her, once again heading off in the direction of his study. How long would he hole up in there this time?

Well, at least she'd made _some _progress. She turned to face her obviously very relieved guards.

"Alright, well, you heard the man," she said. "To the kitchens!"

* * *

Hayley realized that they hadn't shared another awkward family dinner that night. Jackson had made his excuses to be out and speaking with his pack. They were still, quite understandably, upset about the four pack members they'd lost. With Jackson living in a house with the perceived perpetrator, they wanted revenge. But Jackson was ultimately committed to Hayley who was committed to Hope and, thus, didn't want to act rashly for the sake of vengeance and upset the balance of her daughter's family life — especially not with the threat of Dahlia still looming.

Later that evening, he had texted her saying he planned to stay the night. Hayley knew it was hard for him to be around Caroline, knowing that she'd planted the bombs. Still, she couldn't help but feel a tad abandoned since Klaus was all but holding her prisoner at The Abattoir as well. She reassured herself that it was just for a night and that Jackson would be back the next day and fell into a fitful sleep. She didn't want to live at The Abattoir; she'd grown accustomed to the sounds of nature lulling her to sleep in the Bayou and it felt like home now. She missed its sounds almost as much as she missed her husband.

Hope slept late that morning, as happy in her father's home as her mother's. She didn't wake Hayley with her restless cries until it was almost noon. She couldn't have been more grateful after the awful night of sleep. Sometimes she wondered if Hope's powers allowed her to sense these things or if her daughter had maturity they did not yet understand. She banished the thoughts from her head; all mother's thought their daughters were exceptional but Hope had Klaus Mikaelson for a father. Hope certainly wouldn't be getting any lessons in humility from him.

She rose from the bed to breastfeed, sitting with her daughter for a quiet and contemplative half hour before she heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. Buttoning up her shirt and cleaning up Hope, she rose with the child in her arms to see who was walking around. She'd heard Klaus leave earlier in the morning with Elijah and then return but hadn't heard him leave his study since then.

Peeking her head out the door of Hope's room, she saw a bored Caroline wandering the halls with a group of armed vamps trailing her dutifully. Caroline frowned when she saw her and stopped short of the room, several feet away.

"I have a bone to pick with you," Caroline said, clearly agitated.

Hayley eyed the vampires behind Caroline. She didn't like the idea of their guns being around her daughter, despite whatever abilities Hope had.

"Can you leave us for a few minutes, please?" Hayley asked them.

They exchanged charged glances with one another, not knowing to whose authority they should defer. Hayley shot them a pointed glare.

"Are you _really _going to argue with me?" she asked, asserting her authority over them as a Hybrid.

"Fine, she's got 15 minutes and then we'll be back," the male vampire said. "We'll just be down the hall."

"Thanks," Hayley intoned, dryly before waving Caroline into the room and shutting the door behind them for some privacy. "Well?" she asked the blonde.

"Well? _Well?" _Caroline replied, indignantly. "So, I guess the truce is off, for starters! Thanks for the heads up."

"What on Earth gave you that idea?" Hayley asked, defensively. _"I'm_ not here willingly either."

"At least you don't have an armed guard at your side every second," Caroline continued. "At least you're allowed the luxury of _feeding!" _She kept the update that Klaus was now allowing her into the kitchens, where she'd promptly grabbed two blood bags, to herself. It wouldn't strengthen her argument any if Hayley knew Klaus was _already _cracking.

"Nothing that's happening to you is my fault, Caroline," Hayley said.

"If you hadn't promised me that you could keep exactly _this _from happening, I might have been several hours out of the city by now!" Caroline all but shouted, not wanting Klaus to hear them in his study.

"I thought we had more time, okay?" Hayley deflected. "He didn't seem upset with you after you planted the bombs in the Bayou."

Caroline cursed inwardly. That was true. Thanks to Klaus's pride, he'd played off her explosions as his idea in the immediate aftermath. Hayley hadn't seen how truly angry he'd been with her. Only Elijah had been witness to that.

"Look, you told me that if I kept Klaus distracted and away from the pack that you'd keep _Klaus _from going psycho on _me," _Caroline insisted. "You intimated that you could keep him from kidnapping me!"

"How is it kidnapping when you came here willingly?" Hayley asked her, 's behavior wasn't acceptable but none of this would have been happening if Caroline hadn't shown up in the first place. Not to mention, four more members of her pack would still be alive.

"Stopping to visit does _not _mean I signed a contract to live here forever," Caroline argued.

"I thought you wanted to live in New Orleans," she pressed.

"Not like a caged bird!" Caroline insisted. "You just said we were in the same position. If you're not here willingly either, then surely you have some idea of how I feel!"

"How you feel?" Hayley asked. "I thought you didn't _feel _anything?"

"It is my newest wish," Caroline immediately responded, "That since you have gained vampire traits that you will _someday _be forced into the position of turning off your emotions. Just so you can understand _exactly _what this is like."

"What is it like?" she asked in response, hoping that any amount of Caroline opening up might break her out of this ridiculous humanity-less shell.

Caroline scowled, "You think I'm just gonna tell you?" Caroline asked. "So you can run back to Klaus and give him all the information he needs to _break _me?"

"Look, I know you don't trust me. But, if anything, our mutual captivity here means you need to keep our truce more than ever. You're one step away from Klaus locking you up to rot and, if you mess with me again, that might do the trick. He is pissed at you Caroline, as is most of the city. You need me right now," Hayley reasoned.

"If the tables really have turned so suddenly, why are _you _helping me? We hate each other, why aren't you trying to get rid of me?" she asked suspiciously.

Hayley partially lied, obviously not to wanting to inform Caroline that she had plans for her in the future, once her emotions were back, to help temper Klaus's reign. "Look, getting you out isn't even an option. Klaus won't allow it at this point. He's going to do whatever it takes to keep you," she explained.

"He can't _keep _me! I'm an autonomous grown woman!" Caroline practically shrieked. "Hayley if your goal in all of this is just to keep me from messing things up for you… then forget the truce! You need to help me escape!"

Hayley sighed, shifting Hope onto her hip. She considered Caroline's offer. Yes, she really did hope that if Caroline returned to her former self _and _stayed with Klaus of her own volition that Caroline might help Klaus to ease up his pressure on the pack. At the very least, she'd be a good distraction rather than another source of conflict in the city. But Caroline wasn't any closer to turning her emotions back on… And _that _didn't negate the fact that if she helped the blonde to escape, Hayley would be putting herself in the direct line of fire of Klaus's wrath.

Just then, Hayley's cell began to ring in her purse that lay on the ground next to Hope's rocking chair. Needing to use both of her hands, it was Hayley's immediate harried-mother inclination to pass Hope to their nearest available person. However, since that person was Caroline, it gave Hayley pause.

But then, an idea struck. Everyone was trying _everything_ to get Caroline's humanity turned back on but, no one had tried Hope. Klaus had clearly even naively thought he could apparently fuck her emotions back on — a fact that Hayley and Jackson had privately laughed about many times already. On the surface, Hope had no meaningful connection to Caroline but Hayley was aware that Caroline had just lost her own mother. And wasn't that always a source of emotion in female vampires? Their inability to have children?

Either way, Hayley felt confident that Caroline wouldn't hurt Hope. She had too much to lose and, besides, Hayley was _more _than sure in her abilities to protect her daughter.

Playing it off as a completely innate and noncommittal move, Hayley pushed Hope into Caroline's arms while the phone continued ringing. Caroline's arms had been crossed at her chest but, apparently, motherly instincts of responding to a baby ran _deep_, underneath whatever caused emotion or humanity. She instantly uncrossed her arms and accepted the child

"Can you take her for a minute?" Hayley asked when she felt Caroline take hold of Hope. "I need to get this."

Caroline accepted the baby immediately and naturally but not without a look of mild surprise that she was suddenly holding an infant. Her physical response to holding a baby had nothing to do with emotion. Despite feeling nothing for the child, Caroline immediately supported the almost-toddler beneath her arms and swung her up into a cradling position. It was instinct.

"Hey, what's up?" Hayley asked after seeing Jackson's name flash on her phone.

Next to her, Caroline didn't look at all like a threat to Hope, she just looked confused. She was staring down at the baby in her arms like she knew she should be feeling something, like she'd almost expected to, but still wasn't.

"_I just wanted to let you know I'm on my way home," _Jackson said from the other end of the phone. _"I think I have things smoothed over enough with the pack for the time being." _

"Good," Hayley responded, eyes still locked on Caroline. "We can talk about it when you get back."

Caroline was no longer cradling Hope but holding her out at arm's length. She was looking at Hope quizzically, clearly not knowing what to make of the squirming and gurgling infant. But, somewhere in the back of Caroline's mind — so deep that she almost didn't realize it — a memory was stirring. It was her mother again, holding her hand in the grocery store when she wasn't even old enough to talk, barely strong enough to toddle along at her mother's patient side.

"I'll see you soon," Hayley said into her phone and interrupting Caroline's memory, "Love you." She clicked the phone off.

Hayley was about to make a motion to take back Hope, still not seeing any sign of emotion on Caroline's face, unaware of the memory stirring within her. But, just then, the double doors on the opposite wall of Hope's room slid open and Klaus entered, Elijah right behind him.

The air in the room grew immediately tense as Klaus spied Caroline holding his daughter. He didn't even process the fact that everyone looked fine; Hope looked as happy and innocent as she always did and Hayley was clearly unperturbed. None of this registered in his mind, nor did his former insistence that Caroline would never harm Hope. The only thought that reached him was that a dangerous, unpredictable vampire with no humanity — who had every reason to _hate _him, right now — was holding his daughter.

Elijah noticed Klaus tense first and made a motion to grab him as he lunged at Caroline. At the same time, Hayley snatched Hope back into her arms. Elijah missed his grab at Klaus and the Original Hybrid finished his dash at the blonde, slamming her into the wall behind her with a resounding crack. He saw her wince.

"_Don't you _ever _touch her!" _he hissed into her face, locking a fist around her throat and squeezing, not even feeling her hands come up to claw at his fist.

"Klaus! I asked her to hold Hope!" Hayley insisted, rushing over with Elijah after putting Hope safely into her crib. Sensing the trouble in the air, Hope had begun to wail, making the situation seem all the more dramatic than it actually was. "I had to get the phone, Klaus! Let her _go!" _

"_Klaus!" _Elijah shouted, finally managing to wrench his brother away from Caroline. She promptly slid to the ground with her back to the wall, sputtering and massaging her throat. Most disturbingly of all, she looked completely out of it — like someone had suddenly plucked every thought right from her head and she was left with no will to fight.

"What were you _thinking?" _Klaus railed, finally turning towards Hayley. "Where were her guards?"

"I had it under control Klaus!" Hayley shouted back, "_Nothing _was the matter."

Klaus shot one final glare down towards Caroline, still feeling like he'd just escaped a close call with Hope, despite whatever Hayley was prattling on about. Rage was pounding in his head and he honestly wasn't hearing much of what anyone was saying. Footsteps were thundering up the stairs at the sound of the commotion and a group of Marcel's vampires were rushing up the stairs, including Caroline's guards from earlier. Klaus indiscriminately pointed at one of the vamps and gestured to Caroline.

"Just get her out of my sight!" he demanded and, with the help of a second vampire plus a few more trailing behind, they began to drag a limp Caroline back to her room.

She was scared, yes, but she hadn't lost her will. No, now she was just smart enough not to display any resistance while Klaus was still so sure she'd been prepared to hurt Hope. She _hadn't _been, of course. Caroline didn't have a death wish but she _would_ be getting out of here. Tonight.

"Klaus, she was clearly just holding Hope!" Elijah called after his brother who had promptly stormed from the room the moment Caroline was out of site.

"He's right, Klaus!" Hayley joined in, both of them following him out into the hall. Hope was safely back in her crib and had finally calmed down.

Klaus whirled around the moment she spoke, "And _you!" _he growled at her, "What were you even doing with her? How dare you dismiss her guards without my permission! What was so important for you two to discuss that it required such privacy, hmm?"

Hayley held her tongue, knowing that he'd gotten her with that. Truly, if the two hadn't been conspiring in any form then there would have been no reason for her to send the guards away.

"What could those guards possibly have done to protect me that I couldn't have accomplished by myself?" she replied, defensively. "I'm a hybrid; they aren't!"

"Nevertheless, you had our daughter to protect as well," Klaus hissed. "It was foolish Hayley!"

"Don't patronize me as a mother, Klaus!" Hayley screamed. "If you really believe Caroline is so much of a threat then you know damn well that she shouldn't be here at all!"

Klaus growled and turned back around to storm off after that. Everyone was coming to the same conclusion because it was the only one that was correct. If he wanted Caroline with her humanity, he certainly wasn't going to get that by keeping her here locked up. But if he let her go, how could he be sure that he'd ever see her again?

* * *

Despite keeping a stoically catatonic face for the entirety of the time her guards were dragging her back, Caroline had heard the end of Klaus's argument with Elijah and Hayley. It would have been impossible not to, even without her vampire hearing. They had been shouting very loudly.

Hayley had made a good point — if Klaus was really that worried about Caroline then he needed to get her out of the house and the city. He hadn't denied that point either which, Caroline suspected, meant that he was truly considering it. And for Caroline, that meant this might be the best time she had to chance an escape.

Who knew if he'd _actually _let her go or not? He might have secretly agreed with Hayley and Elijah until the ends of time but have too much stubborn pride to go through with it. Either way, Caroline wasn't interested in waiting around to find out if he'd be benevolent or not. Klaus certainly didn't have a sweeping history with benevolence, anyway.

And, tonight, she knew he'd be holed up in his room or study — likely making his way back and forth between the two as he paced. But he'd be avoiding Hayley and Elijah like the plague, lest they make another good argument that was difficult for him to confront in a mature manner. By now, she also had the guard rotations down pat. She knew when they took breaks, when they switched off, and where they patrolled. Now was the time for her to leave. Now might be the _only _time she had.

There was no way she'd be able to waltz out the front door, free as a bird, so she'd been scoping out the options from her window for awhile now. Her bedroom window overlooked the courtyard in the center of the house and three vampires periodically patrolled in, out, and around its perimeter. But they had a set schedule; they'd unknowingly developed a routine. The first second all three of them were inside at the same time Caroline quietly opened her windows.

She scaled the wall to the roof first, carefully closing the windows behind her with the softest of clicks. Who knew how many floors The Abattoir had beneath it but above ground, it was only a two-story building so it was just a quick agile jump from the sill of her window to hooking her hands around the rain pipe of the roof. Once she had pulled herself on top of the roof, she pressed her body flush against it, lying down in case anyone might be able to make out the form of someone standing silhouetted against the moonlight.

And then, a new door in the courtyard opened. She knew the entrances from which each of the guards were coming and going… but the door that had just opened was not one of them.

She smelled his scent first; it was undoubtedly Klaus. He was out in the courtyard by himself, just standing there. Caroline pressed her body as low to the roof as she could. She was abjectly terrified that he might see or sense her there. Hardly daring to breathe, she waited. And after about 10 minutes, he finally turned around and walked back inside.

At the same time, the three guards exited back into the courtyard. They were a bit later than normal, but that was probably because they'd been giving Klaus his space.

Not nearly as worried about them as she was Klaus, Caroline kept herself low but began to army crawl her way up the roof. Tall trees surrounded the Abattoir. The branches were crisscrossing the roof. That was one advantage of living in the French Quarter — most of the homes were extremely old. And equally old trees usually surrounded old homes.

Caroline had mapped out a route over a day earlier. She'd never been on the roof before so, she hadn't been entirely sure that her route would work once she actually made it out of her room. But, luckily, it appeared that she'd planned correctly. As she scanned the branches of trees spreading out above the blocks of the city before her, she could see an easy route away from the compound.

She finished her army crawl across the roof. Above her, a solid branch loomed. It connected to a large tree that spread its reach entirely across the home next to them. Caroline leapt upwards, wrapped herself around the first branch, and began to make her way away from The Abattoir.

* * *

**So sorry about the delay! I had a rough time with this chapter, not sure why. The next two chapters are being simultaneously written and are well underway though!**

**Would love to hear your thoughts; reviews really do encourage me to write and edit quicker when I'm otherwise zoning out. I wouldn't be surprised if parts of this chapter aren't to everyone's taste but stick with me! I think you'll like where it's headed. **


	14. Winter

"_Please don't go, I'll eat you whole. I love you so," - _Breezeblocks_, Alt-J_

_**14**_

_**Winter**_

* * *

Caroline had made a point of staying silent from the moment Klaus had begun holding her captive in her room. The move hadn't gone unnoticed. With all the restless stirrings in his home, the only sounds Klaus had truly been keeping an ear out for were hers.

Then, after he'd attacked her in Hope's nursery, she'd fallen into a near catatonic state. He couldn't hear her at all after that. He could barely even sense her presence in the house. Feeling cornered — like he had no easy way to achieve what he wanted — made Klaus lash out, frequently irrationally and violently. It was one of the many flaws within himself that he was all too aware of and bitter about but, so far, unable to change. Tonight, it looked like his volatile tendencies may have lost Caroline for good.

After just a few hours, he'd of course admitted to himself that Caroline _hadn't, _in fact, seemed like she was threatening Hope when he'd seen her. He'd just been so instantaneously floored by fear when he'd found them together. This was a young vampire, after all, who'd he'd recently witnessed blow up a pack of wolves, tear out people's eyes as well as… other important appendages. Still, Caroline would have known that Klaus would kill her if she ever harmed Hope. And, despite her lack of emotions and compassion, the one thing Caroline was definitely still in possession of was her desire to live.

He wasn't about to confess it to them but, Klaus knew Elijah and Hayley were right. One way or another Caroline would have to go. His only other option was to accept Caroline as she was, without her humanity but, honestly he didn't think himself capable of doing that. Sure, a small part of his reasoning was that Caroline had proved herself to be capricious, violent, and dangerous since she'd arrived. But that fact weighed significantly less on his mind than the truth. The truth was that Klaus didn't believe he could stand an eternity loving Caroline to only ever have her stare back at him with nothing.

Before, in Mystic Falls, even when she professed to hate him he could see an intensity in her eyes when he was around. He roused _some _emotion in her. It had always given him hope. He didn't have that now. But, if he were to force her to leave New Orleans until she flipped her switch, there would at least always remain the possibility that she'd turn her humanity back on and that she'd return to him. The question was, which would be worse: Enduring centuries of waiting but never fully _knowing_ that she'd return… or having her by his side knowing for sure that she'd never love him?

Klaus took a brief respite from his study to contemplate all of that in the compound's courtyard. He'd actually stopped drinking, for the moment. If he was going to have to compel Caroline from the city, he wanted to be able to speak with her properly. He was grateful, at least, that he'd been keeping close enough of an eye on her to make sure she didn't have vervain in her system. He would not have enjoyed having to drain it out of her just to compel her banishment. All he had to do was order her never to return to New Orleans unless she had her humanity back.

In the courtyard he'd asked for privacy but, finally making up his mind, Klaus beckoned for the guards that had been pacing in and out of its area to return to their posts. He wondered if perhaps he should wait until the morning but reasoned that Caroline was a vampire well equipped to take care of herself in the middle of the night. Further, after her attack over Hope, he had as good an excuse to send her off now as he ever would. He left the courtyard to make his way upstairs and approach her bedroom.

Thanks to fate, he didn't pass anyone on his way to see her. Klaus didn't particularly want to have to stop and explain himself to Elijah or Hayley until _after _he'd finally gone through with his resolution.

"Open the door for me, please," Klaus said to the new guards stationed outside of Caroline's door. With her last personal guards proving to be completely incompetent, he'd immediately switched them with other members of the Army.

Without hesitation, they reached over to swing open one of her large double doors and Klaus entered.

He knew she was gone immediately. It wasn't just because he didn't see her — her suite was large and she could have been anywhere in it or even using her ensuite bath. He hadn't realized it but being in Caroline's presence had begun making the air around him thrum with excitement. Without her, everything grew curiously still. Her room was still right now.

Flashing in, he did a cursory check over the room anyway. She really wasn't there.

"_Where IS she?!" _Klaus roared to the guards behind him, well aware that the whole house would be sure to hear him at this volume. Without thinking, his wolf eyes began to glow in anger and his set of double-fangs began to descend, elongating in a horrifying fashion.

One of the guards was brave enough to flash into the room, searching for her himself with his own bewildered eyes but the other two had enough common sense to hang back. Enraged Klaus reached over to grab the man about his neck, snarling like an animal before tearing into his throat and draining him. He dropped him to the ground a second later, noting with some small amount of satisfaction that his throat had been ripped clean out and the man was all but decapitated.

"You'd better make yourselves scarce," a voice instructed the other guards behind him. Elijah.

Klaus whirled around in time to see the other two guards vamp speed away as Elijah began to approach him through the doorway. He cast a wary glance to the vampire Klaus had just killed, knowing that Marcel would not be pleased.

"She's gone," Klaus growled out, picking up the stereo system that Caroline had picked up for herself and smashing it against the wall. "Call Rebekah and Marcel, I want her found, _now_."

"Klaus, is this really the time-"

"Do _not _debate me on this right now," Klaus snarled, flashing in front of his brother at light speed, mere inches from his face, dominating the space.

He could see Elijah grinding his jaw as he bit back whatever he truly had to say. Instead of antagonizing Klaus further, Elijah turned around to begin making a few calls.

Klaus turned back into Caroline's room, inhaling the air around him deeply. It was still thick with her scent. She wasn't even close to long gone, yet. Who knew if she'd even made it out of the city's borders? He followed the trail of her scent over to her window. He undid the latch and stuck his head outside.

Beneath him, in the courtyard in the heart of the compound, the remaining vampire's in Marcel's Army were bustling about as some took orders to leave and search and others began to map out the logistics of the search. Klaus ignored them for the time being. Looking upwards instead, he followed her scent to the roof above.

So that was how his little bird had gotten free.

* * *

Klaus had spent the night running at top speed throughout the city. He stopped in at several of Caroline's favorite local haunts — as well as multiple seedy alleyways known for being easy feeding spots — before giving up on the streets and trying the trees instead.

After flashing up to the roof himself, it had been clear she'd escaped through the trees. But New Orleans, though old, was still a city. The line of foliage from the compound only extended so far. Looking through both the streets and the trees lining his block, he'd still lost her scent. Even after promising favors to some of the wolves in Hayley's pack, none of them had been able to pick up her scent either. He didn't know how she'd done it but Caroline had planned this escape. And she'd planned well.

Storming back into The Abattoir several hours later that evening, he went in search of Hayley. He found her lounging in the living room with Jackson.

"Nice to see you back, Jackson," Klaus sarcastically spat at him when he finally walked into the room where they were sitting together, "But, if you don't mind, I need to speak with Hayley privately."

"Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of him," Hayley immediately piped up.

"Is that so?" Klaus asked skeptically. "Alright, then. I assumed you might want to keep it private… that the young vampire who killed four members of your pack with napalm was, in fact, the _same _vampire you just helped escape."

Jackson's eyes flashed towards Hayley in confusion.

"You helped Caroline escape?" he asked, his tone not hiding his hurt.

"I most certainly did _not_," Hayley objected. "Look, Klaus, I tried to instill a truce with Caroline while she was here but it didn't work out. I told her that if she stopped making threats towards myself and the pack that I would do everything I could to stop _you _from locking her up to desiccate."

Klaus practically winced but was able to maintain a stoic face.

"I would never have done that," he said. Even he wasn't sure if he was lying or not. He may have been lying to himself.

"You came pretty damn close, Klaus, let's be honest," Hayley debated. "But, either way, I never agreed to her request to help her escape."

"So she asked?" Klaus asked to clarify. "She asked for your help to escape?"

"Of course she asked!" Hayley said, losing her patience. "You weren't even letting her _feed_. The point is that I didn't agree to help her. Caroline escaped on her own time with her own plan."

Klaus groaned, internally, not displaying his true frustration on the outside. He believed Hayley, mostly because he knew the little wolf had been living with him long enough to know his limits. Hayley would have had to be a fool to help Caroline leave without his permission. Though she was frequently naive and, even more frequently selfish or misguided, she wasn't stupid.

Yes, Klaus wanted to keep the mother of his daughter alive. But was he sure that desire extended beyond the potential of Hayley outright betraying him? Of course not. Luckily, for the time being, he didn't have to consider that option. He believed that Hayley had not betrayed him.

"If that's the case then you can either help or stay out of my way," Klaus said. "I don't have time to deal with the pack's issues right now."

With that he was out of the room, leaving Hayley and Jackson to roll their eyes and exchange annoyed glances.

"No one has ever requested that he interfere with the pack," Jackson growled, "No matter what _issues_ he's talking about."

"Klaus can't admit when he's wrong," Hayley responded. "Haven't you learned that about him by now?"

"No, I guess I haven't. I'm not surprised," Jackson told her. "I just can't believe that he's still pretending that he cares to be in control of every aspect of this city when it's abundantly clear that he only has one thing on his mind right now and that's Caroline."

"Well, Klaus is nothing if not prideful," she reasoned. "Caroline might be the only thing he's thinking about right now but, that doesn't mean he's not going to pretend he's not in control of everything else."

"Maybe we should just find Cami," Jackson suggested. "He has a penchant for blondes. If we brought her back, maybe we could get him to forget about Caroline and control him through the human?"

"Cami isn't coming back," Hayley replied, finally. "Even if I were to compel her… Klaus doesn't feel the same way about Cami that he does Caroline. It wouldn't solve anything."

Jackson growled in frustration.

"Well, whatever happens, you have to promise to keep me informed," he said. "Even if I can't help, I just want to know what you're facing."

Hayley leaned down to kiss her husband softly.

"I promise," she vowed.

* * *

Klaus's efforts to appear in control, though, were proving futile. He'd stayed up the entire night making phone calls and speeding in and out of the city himself to find her. The night's search ultimately proved fruitless and he returned to the compound early the next morning.

He was wrecked but had no plans to rest. Heading back into his home after his most recent race north of the city, to Baton Rouge, he walked through the door completely frustrated. She hadn't been in Baton Rouge either and no one else had spied her anywhere else in the state which may very well have been an indicator that she was already out of Louisiana.

_We found her so quickly when she went to Atlanta, _he thought to himself, _Why can't we find a trace of her now? _

Elijah interrupted his thoughts as he crossed the house towards his study.

"Klaus, I do not understand the point of this fruitless search," Elijah railed, finally losing his patience. "You _knew _you were going to have to banish her from the city anyway, if she has run there is no point to bringing her back!"

A million thoughts were racing through Klaus's mind while Elijah scolded him. Paramount among them was: _No one runs from me and simply escapes. _After that, he was simpering on the general misery he felt at her leaving. He knew that Elijah knew him well enough to assess his true feelings at the moment but, that didn't mean he would outright admit them without a fight.

"What if she plans to come back for revenge, Elijah? We still cannot trust her," he replied.

"You know damn well she's not a fool Klaus!" Elijah spat right back. "We both know how scared you had her when she left. She's long gone. You want her back because you still want her to love you, Klaus, but you have got to face the fact that maybe she just _doesn't." _

It was harsh, Elijah knew, but someone had to be the first to voice it. If Caroline was not coming back of her own accord, it either meant that her humanity was still off or that she simply did not love Klaus. Or that Klaus had truly scared her off for good, despite the status of her humanity. Klaus couldn't keep carrying on like this, not when there were so many other dangers lurking and waiting to seize this moment of weakness.

"You don't understand," Klaus said, pausing in his pacing to face his brother and give him a real answer for once.

"I understand better than you think," he replied, thinking of his own many lost loves.

"No, that's not what I mean," Klaus said. "When I was thinking about banishing her… I would have at least been able to give her conditions. I could have told her that if she ever decided to turn her emotions back on she could return to me. Now that she's run, I simply may never see her again."

Elijah lowered his head. He understood Klaus's frantic search better now… but he still did not agree with it. If Caroline Forbes was meant to be with his brother then fate would find a way to lead them together. Right now, they could not afford to be so completely focused on finding her. They had other imposing problems to which to direct their attention.

"Klaus, if she turns her humanity back on," Elijah began in response, "Then surely she will be able to work out that the only reason you grew angry with her was because you could not trust her. She will come back."

"How could she?" Klaus asked, distraught. "After I kept her under lock and guard like that. Why would she ever return to me again?"

Elijah sighed heavily, "Brother, this is why I counseled you to banish her as soon as possible. Keeping her locked away, no matter for how short a time, was a good idea."

"Now is not the time to attempt to rub my nose in my mistakes, Elijah!" Klaus yelled out, becoming angry in just a split second. "At the time, I saw no other course of action."

"No one is blaming you Klaus!" Elijah replied. "We all may wish things played out differently than they did but, given all of the threats on our horizon right now, no one has time to blame you. We all need to put this behind us and work together to protect ourselves."

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked.

"Dahlia," Elijah replied easily. "We need to be focusing on her right now. She is a greater threat than you realize."

Klaus was sick of all this talk about Dahlia. Each time she was mentioned was just a reminder of his new sister, Freya, a woman he did not at all trust.

"If Dahlia and Freya are really your paramount concern at this moment… _fine," _Klaus spat out. "I assume the same feelings are true for Rebekah. Your help is not required for finding Caroline. You may respectfully bow out."

"Klaus, that's not what I was suggesting-"

"-No, Elijah," Klaus interrupted. "You've made your opinions and feelings perfectly clear. Do not worry. I have other people in mind who might be willing to help me. _More _than willing, I'd wager."

* * *

Stefan had been drinking when his cell rang. Damon and Bonnie had just managed to return Kai to the prison world and it had been a stressful few days. But, despite everyone else's distraction, the only thing that had truly been on Stefan's mind was Caroline. It disturbed him, the idea that they were just leaving her in New Orleans with _Klaus_, while Caroline wasn't even fully in control of her own emotions.

Elena was concerned too, obviously. He was sure Bonnie would have been too, if she hadn't been so preoccupied by plans to get rid off Kai. Now that the powerful Gemini witch was finally imprisoned again, he was sure everyone's attention could return to finding a loophole to Klaus's compulsion. They'd all been bled dry of vervain before he'd compelled them under Caroline's wishes and, even though they all now safely had vervain back in their systems, they still couldn't undo the compulsion. They would need to work out a new plan.

But then, Stefan's phone rang again — maybe for the fourth time. He'd been ignoring it all morning. Finally, he pulled it out of his pocket and chanced a look at the name flashing on his screen: _Klaus. _He picked up.

"Klaus, I can't say I'm not surprised to see you calling," Stefan answered. "Is Caroline okay?"

"_I have no idea," _was the immediate response from Klaus at the other end, _"Caroline has escaped." _

"Escaped?" Stefan asked immediately, "I'm sorry but that particular word has very specific connotations. When we last left both of you, Caroline seemed more than willing to stay in New Orleans. Did something change?"

"_She proved herself to be a threat," _the Hybrid responded. _"She tried to blow up an entire wolf pack just outside the city with napalm." _

"And since when have werewolf packs become your concern?" Stefan asked, skeptically. "Besides when you're attempting to turn them into your own personal hybrid army, of course."

"_Since a certain pack of wolves became family to my own daughter," _Klaus explained on the other end of the line. _"I was going to let Caroline go, Stefan. But then she just left before I could speak with her and, I have no idea where she is." _

"Annnd this is _our _problem, how?" Stefan asked, already working through multiple scenarios in his mind of how they could find Caroline and keep her away from Klaus.

"_You want her humanity back on still, too, don't you?" _he returned.

"Of course," Stefan replied. "But not if that means striking any kind of deal with you."

"_I plan to keep my compulsion over you that prevents you from interfering with Caroline within New Orleans' limits," _Klaus said. _"I've done you the courtesy of letting you know that she's left the city limits. All I ask in return is that if you find her first, you tell me. I simply wish to speak with her one final time… and I'll leave her to make her own decisions after that point." _

"So you're asking me to find Caroline, tell you when I find her and, then trust you to leave her be after you _just _admitted to keeping her locked up?" Stefan asked.

"_If you don't trust my offer, then I can easily keep track of you myself, Stefan," _Klaus said. _"Once you make a move to find her, I can have eyes on you the entire time. I thought my suggestion of partnering was much more civil but…" _

"Fine," Stefan agreed, knowing that to purportedly partner with Klaus was far safer than outright plotting against him. "But you do agree that once we find her, you won't force her to return to you if she doesn't want to?"

"_Of course," _Klaus agreed.

Stefan didn't trust him for a second. Nevertheless, after hanging up with Klaus, he immediately went to find Bonnie and Elena to update them.

* * *

In the next hour, daylight finally broke. Because most of Klaus's help was already out on the streets or even further out than New Orleans, the compound was finally quiet. Anyone remaining on the home's premises was asleep — except for Klaus, of course.

Though he wanted to be out attempting to find Caroline, the idea that he might head off in the wrong direction was instilling an uncomfortable amount of anxiety within him. Rather than hedge his bets, he decided to do the safest thing and just stay put until he heard anything more conclusive.

Sitting out in the courtyard as the sun rose, Klaus's concentration was only broken by the sound of approaching voices: Rebekah and Hayley. Apparently he wasn't the only one still up.

"We thought we might find you out here," Rebekah said as they approached, "Though, I must admit, I _am _surprised to find you without a drink. No matter how early it is."

"Your capacity for empathy is always _astounding, _sister," Klaus replied. "If you have no desire to help me right now, then you can do as Elijah chose to earlier and _leave. _I don't have time to deal with pointless insolence."

"Oh, I'm about to, make no mistake," Rebekah replied. "I understand what a threat Dahlia is to all of us. I won't be wasting too much time here."

"Then why are you here _at all?" _Klaus demanded.

"To implore you, Klaus," Rebekah replied. "If Caroline is meant to be here then she will come back. In the meantime, we still have a major threat that needs your attention: Dahlia."

"I've told you before," Klaus reiterated. "I don't _care _what happens to Freya. I don't care what Dahlia wants."

"Don't be foolish about this, Klaus," Rebekah pleaded. "We truly don't know what she's capable of."

"If anything of importance actually requires my attention, Dahlia or otherwise," Klaus deflected, "You know how to get in touch with me. In the meantime, leave me to spend my time as I see fit or you might just wind up with a dagger in your heart again."

"And I suppose as you see fit involves gallivanting all over the globe in search of a woman that wants nothing to do with you?" Rebekah continued. Klaus growled. Rebekah was pushing her luck.

"I never did understand," Hayley interrupted, "Why you didn't just drain Caroline of vervain the moment she set foot in the city and just compel her to turn her emotions back on."

Klaus flashed her a pointed glare, indicating that the subject was not to be broached again. The truth was that the thought had occurred to him several times over, particularly after the vervain had clearly left Caroline's system and he wouldn't have even needed to drain her. But he certainly didn't feel comfortable enough with Hayley to reveal his true vulnerability: the reason why he had decided against using compulsion.

Turning on or off a vampire's humanity without their permission was not something Klaus made a habit of doing. After he'd last used that trick on Stefan Salvatore, something felt deeply wrong about using it on Caroline without her consent. It felt like an invasion, like forcing someone to tell you they loved you when they really didn't. He had always wanted Caroline, yes, but in her own time. If she came to him on her own then, and only then, he would truly be able to have _all _of her.

Luckily, Hayley didn't press the sore subject after his intense stare. She knew she was on thin ice with the Original already. After he'd caught them together in Hope's nursery, he'd suspected them of working together. Now, it was likely Klaus thought Hayley may have helped Caroline escape, if anything just to get her out of the city and out of her territory.

Hayley had given a good argument in her own defense and, she knew that Klaus believed her. How couldn't he have, when Caroline's escape had been a surprise to everyone? Still, there was clearly a fair amount of hostility clouding the air. It was all because Klaus had last caught Caroline with Hayley before she'd escaped. Now, Hayley was wishing she'd just kept her distance from the blonde, _period. _Obviously, without her humanity on, Caroline would never have had the patience to stay in New Orleans indefinitely.

No matter which way you cut it, Caroline would have left at some point anyway. Hayley should have just kept her head down and herself out of it. Now, she found herself the object of Klaus's ire and, she definitely didn't want to be.

"Alright, I can see I'm only going to get the silent treatment," Rebekah said, flippantly, "Let's leave him be, Hayley."

The wolf and his sister left him alone in the courtyard. Rebekah had reminded him — he needed another drink. But, he realized after checking the time on his cell, he didn't have time to, at the moment. He would need to be leaving shortly to meet up with Stefan Salvatore.

* * *

**AU Notes: So, obviously with Cami... to be explained further. She's not in our story for now. The reason why _may _be revealed in upcoming chapters! Still no Salvatore-Mom plot-line. That's still too much for me to get in to. I kept the Kai thing cause, you know, they had to be working on _something_ while Caroline has been down in NOLA.**

**I know I left you guys dangling too long between chapters 12 and 13, so I'm definitely trying to get back into a quicker update schedule. Every review I get definitely reminds and motivates me to keep writing. I can't send enough thank you's to those of you who are repeat reviewers; I love hearing your evolving reactions as the plot progresses. What you love, what you hate, what you want, limericks or emojis — any thoughts or randomness is welcome!**

**Dunno how everyone is feeling about how TO is winding up its season or how TVD finished the Caroline-humanity plot but… I'm a little let down with both. This story has been a welcome respite for what I wish was happening. And, as always, thanks to my beta titieli. Working with her helps ensure these come out a lot more polished!**


	15. Equinox

"_Leaving boys behind 'cause it's legal just to kill," - _Bad Girls_, M.I.A. _

_**15 **_

_**Equinox**_

* * *

Caroline was racing down the highway west out of New Orleans in a convertible she'd compelled for herself upon leaving the city. She was blaring Creedence Clearwater Revival's _Fortunate Son _as loud as her speakers would let her and she had the top down so she could soak in the warm Louisiana sun.

_Some folks are born, made to wave the flag, ooh they're red, white and blue… _

She certainly wasn't traveling in the most inconspicuous fashion but, she was going to ditch the car for a new one soon enough. Right now, she just wanted to outrace the emotions chasing her from the city and this car was _fast_. She pressed down on the accelerator, expertly weaving in between cars as she sped further and further from Klaus. She didn't see any cops on the road and was fully prepared to compel any that might stop her reckless driving. If she'd even _need _to, that was. She was a sexy blonde, in a sexy car, on a sexy hot summer day, listening to great music. What southern police officer wouldn't be charmed by her?

Unfortunately, she was completely aware that all of these thought processes and voyeuristic actions were just a very poor means of distracting herself from the real issue at hand. She couldn't get her mind off of Klaus. There was a deeply unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach, almost like she was sick, and it just intensified with each mile she passed out of New Orleans.

The previous evening, after she'd escaped over the rooftops of the city, she'd holed up for a few hours in a random human's house on the outskirts of New Orleans. She'd literally compelled the most impoverished looking human she could find and got herself a safe bed for the next few hours. While her compelled human helpers were sleeping in the room beside her, Caroline had taken out the brunette wig she'd snagged the day she went to get her passport and began to disguise herself.

With the brunette wig, large sunglasses, and a trashy mini-dress that she'd never worn in front of Klaus before, she didn't look at all like her old self. After leaving her makeshift safe house dressed in the new disguise first thing the next morning, she'd immediately compelled the first young brunette she could find to give her an ID and then compelled the convertible into her possession along the way.

At this point, though, she'd been driving west out of the city for over an hour. In Caroline's mind, even though an hour seemed an arbitrary length of time, it was still an indicator that she should switch her mode of transportation. She pulled off at the next exit she saw on the highway and parked at a gas station, trying to decide what to do next.

Caroline felt confused… bewildered might have even been a more apt term. From her experience with other humanity-less vampires, it had always seemed that their emotions returned in one of two ways. Either they made a conscious decision to turn it back on or something abruptly triggered it. Caroline did not understand, then, why she was feeling her humanity creeping back in like a slow burn. Despite the slow progression, she _knew _that it had been her fights with Klaus that were affecting her most prominently. That was why she had run, hoping to stop the emotions from worming their way back in.

But the further she got from NOLA, strangely enough, the _worse _it seemed to get. A dull aching pull in her chest grew more noticeable with every mile that took her further from the city. As much as the feeling scared her, worse was the unpredictability of what she'd feel when Klaus found her. _If he finds you_, she reminded herself, mentally. But what _if _he found her? And what _if _she felt relief?

What if his finding her caused her emotions to come flooding back?

Caroline had resolutely wanted to make this escape on her own but her fear was getting the better of her. Getting out of the car, she decided to make a phone call before she changed disguises and got a new mode of transportation.

"Hello?" a voice questioned from the other end of the line after Caroline dialed at the gas station's payphone.

"Bonnie, it's Caroline," she answered.

"Care? Are you okay? Are you… _back?" _her friend questioned, almost pleadingly.

"Back... as in my emotions?" she asked Bonnie. "Um… not quite. But I need your help."

Bonnie paused for a second on the other end of the line, frowning into the phone.

"If you _still _haven't turned your humanity back on… why should I help you?" Bonnie asked, in a borderline disgusted tone. "Why are you even calling me at all?"

"Because Klaus locked me up, Bonnie," Caroline responded immediately. "I escaped and now he's after me. Bonnie, I need you to perform a cloaking spell for me… he _can't _find me."

Her friend went silent again on the other end of the line. Bonnie was none too fond of the idea of Klaus locking up one of her best friends. At the same time, she had seen first hand what Caroline had turned into without her humanity. For all she knew, Klaus had just cause to lock up Caroline. Last she had seen of her former friend, she was threatening to blow up an entire hospital. In Bonnie's mind, she was literally no better than a Batman villain while she was like this.

But at the end of that internal debate, Bonnie just wasn't sure she'd ever be able to side with Klaus before Caroline.

"Where are you, Care?" Bonnie asked.

"I can't tell you," she responded to her friend, instantly.

"Caroline, if Klaus is after you right now then you need _serious _help," Bonnie insisted. "I need to know where you are and we need to come help you."

"Bonnie, I'm just not willing to bring back my humanity," she said. "Not yet. And in the meantime, I need assurance that I won't get locked up for eternity."

Truthfully, Caroline was currently most worried about just keeping this phone call short before Bonnie thought of a way to perform a locator spell. As far as she knew Bonnie would need her blood to do that but she didn't put much past her friend… she was the smartest witch Caroline knew.

"No one can trust you right now, Caroline," Bonnie huffed from the other end. "How can I possibly make a deal with you when you won't tell me _anything?" _

"Look, if I promise to let you ultimately know where I end up, will you help me?" she pleaded into the phone. "I'm desperate."

Bonnie could almost hear her, the _real _Caroline. In this new Caroline's fear, Bonnie could sense her real friend trying to push back through. It could have all been clever acting but, she _so _wanted to believe in her best friend again.

"Alright," Bonnie finally conceded with a sigh. "I'll cloak you, but I'm trusting you to let me know where you end up."

That was a lie and Bonnie knew it herself. Bonnie was doing it because she wanted to protect Caroline from the Original Hybrid. You couldn't trust a vampire without their humanity on, not even if they _owed _you something. As much as she wanted to believe in Care again, her time in the prison world had made her jaded. She wouldn't trust Caroline until she knew for sure that her emotions were back.

"Thank you, Bonnie," Caroline said.

Bonnie could have sworn it sounded like genuine appreciation and relief in her voice. Caroline was a better actress than she'd anticipated.

"Look, it's not gonna be easy," Bonnie said. "Not with you hundreds of miles away and I don't have access to your blood. Normally I'd try to go to your house and find an old possession that was important to you but… since _nothing _is important to you currently, I'll have to figure something else out."

"Do whatever it takes," Caroline replied, without hesitation.

Bonnie bit her lip, anxious about an idea pressing at her mind.

"We may need to exhume your mother's grave," she said, waiting for the reaction with no expectations for what Caroline might say.

"Whatever it takes," was all Caroline repeated.

"Alright, I get it," Bonnie said. "How will I let you know when the spell is in effect?"

"I'll call you," Caroline said. "In a few hours. Don't worry about tracking me down, I'll always get a hold of you."

Without any further discussion on the topic, Caroline hung up. Turning from the payphone, she scanned the gas station parking lot. Filling up the tank of an old black pick-up was a young guy, maybe 30, who wasn't _too _heinous looking. Plastering on a smile, Caroline began to sway towards him.

"Hi, honey!" she greeted familiarly. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me halfway, I know we're kind of in the middle of nowhere…"

She was talking loudly, in case anyone else in the station overheard them. Just as the man she was approaching began to look confused she darkened her eyes in compulsion.

"You're ready to go, right?" she asked him. "Don't worry, I'll give you directions. It's so good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too…" the man replied, in a hypnotic haze. He dutifully finished filling his tank of gas and then opened the passenger door for Caroline to get inside, like he'd had a trip planned with her this whole time.

"Alright, we're gonna get on I-10 West," Caroline instructed as she put her feet up on the dashboard of the passenger's seat.

"Uh-huh, I-10 West," the man replied in an easy, complacent tone.

"And for God's sake, I'm picking the music," she complained, flipping off the CD player blasting Riff Raff and beginning to scan the radio. "Well, get going!"

Without any further prompting, the compelled human shifted his truck into gear and pulled out of the station.

* * *

Bonnie naturally went to Stefan first. Damon only cared about Caroline in so far as that he cared about Elena and Bonnie caring about her, so she didn't bother texting him that she'd heard from her. Elena was busy helping Jo with the wedding and, though she knew she'd be immediately willing to stop to help Caroline, Stefan still seemed like the obvious first person to go to. He was in love with the girl after all.

She got out of her car and approached his home but, before she could even knock on the door, it swung open.

"Bonnie!" Stefan said in surprise as he almost bumped in to the witch, "I was just about to give you a call and try to meet up. I've just received a rather interesting phone call…"

"Let me guess," she replied, "Caroline?"

Stefan quirked a confused eyebrow at that question before responding, "No, not exactly… Why I have _you _heard from Caroline?"

"You first," the witch demanded, on guard now, "Tell me about your interesting phone call."

"I just got off the phone with Klaus," he said. "He wants our help because Caroline has gone MIA."

Bonnie snorted at Klaus's obvious distortion of the whole scenario. "That's not exactly how _she _put it," Bonnie said.

"So you _did _talk to her?" Stefan asked. "Why don't you come inside?" Knowing that Caroline had reached out put his mind in a million places. Was her humanity back? Why did she leave Klaus? Was she trying to come back to Virginia? Why did she call Bonnie instead of him?

"Before I go into any specifics… did you agree to help Klaus?" she asked, stepping through his door to walk into the living room.

"Only tangentially," he said, noticing her distinct disapproving look when his answer wasn't an immediate _no_. "Just let me explain okay? And it'd be nice if you would remember, for a second here, that I'm on Caroline's side too. _Not _Klaus's. So it would be beneficial to hear whatever side of the story she told you too."

Bonnie sank into one of the plush leather couches, accepting Stefan's offer of a whiskey. Truth be told, she'd become more of a drinker since her time in the prison world. Really only a few days out and she was already involved in plots with Klaus Mikaelson again? Yeah, she'd take a drink.

"Alright, I'm sorry, Stefan," Bonnie admitted. "You know how I get when Klaus is thrown into the equation. I don't trust him… it makes me suspicious of everyone."

Stefan waved her off affably. All of his concern was on hearing what Caroline had said. He still couldn't get past the hurt that she'd called Bonnie first when she was in trouble. Even if she truly wasn't interested in him anymore, she'd been his best friend before she left for New Orleans. Did she think she couldn't come to him anymore? Even as a friend?

"Purportedly all Klaus wants is for me to try to find her outside of New Orleans and, if I do, tell him so he can speak with her one final time," Stefan said. "Obviously that doesn't really sound like something Klaus would do."

"How could you even find her? While you're under compulsion not to interfere with her humanity?" Bonnie asked.

"Searching for her isn't the same as trying to get her emotions back," he explained. "Klaus just wants me to find her. And we're still not allowed back into the city limits. It's all really suspicious, I know but, honestly my main concern is just finding Care before _he _does."

"I agree," Bonnie said. "Which is why I told Caroline I'd help her and perform a cloaking spell."

"But then none of us will be able to find her," Stefan said, confused.

"We could still locate her," Bonnie said. "At least I could. I'd be the one controlling the spell, so I'd always be able to find her. It would be tough… I'm trying to string her on a bit to keep checking in with me so I can try to convince her to just _tell me _where she is-"

"That's not going to happen," Stefan interrupted.

He had been pacing in front of the fireplace as he drank and spoke with Bonnie but he finally stopped to sink into the couch next to her.

"Well, why can't we just go find her on our own anyway? Forget about Klaus," she suggested.

Stefan sighed, "He told me that if I made any moves to find her without keeping in touch with him that he'd know."

"So he's watching us," Bonnie said with a defeated sigh.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm not sure I believe him. If Caroline's really left him then he might be so desperate to get her back that he has all of his New Orleans lackeys out looking for her. I don't think he'd waste any resources on us."

"There's no way to know for sure," she said. "And I don't want to risk Klaus interfering with us."

"Interfering?" Stefan asked. That sounded like Bonnie had something in mind for Klaus to interfere _with_.

"Alright, well here's what I had in mind…" Bonnie started. "First of all, you'll keep checking in with Klaus..."

* * *

The nearest international airport that she'd feel comfortable leaving from was in Austin. The drive to the state border towards Texas was long but her compelled chauffeur was both quiet and a speeding, aggressive driver. She was able to sleep through most of it as the miles breezed by.

Waking up, they were approaching a town on something called Lake Charles. Caroline began studying a map on her phone, suppressing a yawn; they were less than 50 miles from the state border. She could vamp speed the rest of that way by herself.

"Pull over," she told her driver, gesturing to a suburban neighborhood off in the distance from the highway. "I'll get out in that neighborhood."

Fifteen minutes later she was hopping out of the car, pulling her small bag of stuff with her. She crossed around the front of the car to the driver's side where the man she'd picked up still had that glazed look in his eyes from her compulsion. She let her eyes darken one more time as she came up with a plan to ditch him and the car in one go.

"I want you to drive around for awhile. Don't get back onto the highway," she ordered. "Stay in the local area, go see the lake. And when you find a nice, abandoned section of the lake later tonight… drive your truck into as far as you can and don't get out. Thanks again!"

Completely nonplussed, the man nodded sleepily and drove off, heading in the direction of the last sign for Lake Charles that they'd passed.

Caroline took a look at the traditional neighborhood around her. Places like these gave her the creeps. Every house looked the same, like they'd been made in a factory together. They were useful rest stops for her current escape, though, because they were completely void of any security cameras. Cameras were the reason that the hardest leg of her escape had really just been getting out of the city. Either way, tired of sticking around this dreary little neighborhood, she vamp sped off to run the last few miles into Texas. Once she'd gotten there, she'd pick up a new car.

By the time she'd reached the Louisiana border, though, just a few minutes later… Caroline knew she still wasn't nearly ready to cross it yet. She stood there looking at the sign welcoming her to Texas, trying to will herself across the border. But every time she chanced a step closer, it felt like a wall inside of her was threatening to crumble and memories of Klaus would push furiously at her mind.

This was insane. She needed to get her head on straight and work on really flipping the switch inside of her off _for good_. She'd fucking tape it down if she had to, in a metaphorical sense, of course.

Instead of continuing to stare hopelessly at the invisible line into Texas, Caroline doubled back several miles to a town called Vinton where she found a dive hotel nearby to get her head on straight and practice shutting off her emotions more confidently. To be fair, she hadn't turned the switch back _on_; it was more like, if humanity was a light one turned on and off, the bulb inside of her was flickering due to faulty electrical wiring.

Her emotions were still firmly off when she'd compelled that man to drive himself into the lake. But the moment she had even a passing thought of Klaus, it was like something would spark inside of her. All the same, she was glad she had left him. If being away from him was causing her to have this difficult of a time keeping her emotions off, she could only imagine the state she'd be in if she had stayed.

That thought twisted in her stomach like a knife and she tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe it clean from her brain. If she had still been in New Orleans but, with her humanity _on, _it was very likely that she would have been in the throws of passion with the Original Hybrid right now. Klaus would have been so _happy _if she'd stayed and turned it back on. Instead of staying in this questionable hotel, she'd be having her body worshipped while she drank the most intoxicating vampire blood ever known throughout history. But she didn't want that, right? She didn't _need _it at least. She only needed to keep her emotions off.

She redirected her thoughts towards her travel plans. She was headed west towards Texas, planning to take a pit stop in Austin. It was supposed to be an amazing city — great food and art, amazing music. Plus, from the Austin airport, she could use her passport to go anywhere in the world. She was thinking Rio next. It was bound to be a lot of fun like New Orleans and, Klaus would probably expect her to be heading to Europe, not South America. If she stayed there a year she'd be able to go to Carnival.

Carnival… it reminded her of Mardi Gras, which, of course reminded her of Klaus. Cursing, Caroline stormed out of her hotel room to find a bar. She was going to need to drink this night away, apparently. She'd seen a seedy place not more than a mile south of the hotel.

* * *

The next morning, Caroline woke with a hangover as bad as she used to get when she was a human. She needed blood. Without pausing to think, she flashed up from where she'd passed out on her hotel floor after getting back from the bar the previous evening, and went in search of a human. The moment she opened her door, she came face to face with a maid. She quickly pulled her in, drained her just short of killing her, and then compelled her to forget the entire episode as soon as she woke from a long nap.

Caroline gathered her things quickly after that. She was going to grab a quick drink and a bite of human breakfast to kill the rest of her hangover and then she was getting the hell out of this state. She didn't care where her head was at this morning. Honestly, she didn't even plan to think. She was just going to plow right past the border without a second glance.

Before she did, though, Caroline found herself in front of an old diner that looked like it was straight from 1975 called Ma's Choice Diner. She quirked an eyebrow in momentary amusement at the terrible name before walking in and spotting a seat yourself sign. She chose a booth in the back and a waitress was already heading over to her table with a wide smile.

"Bad day?" the waitress asked, dropping the cheery smile for a look of commiseration as she approaching Caroline's booth. Caroline hadn't been aware she was scowling but, her irritation must have shown.

"More like a bad week," she muttered in reply.

"Let me grab you a drink, on the house," the waitress offered, "What's your poison?"

"I'll just have an Abita," she replied, "Thanks."

"Sure, I'll be right back with that," she said and walked off towards the bar on the other side of the diner.

A few tables away, a young couple sat with their baby boy in a high chair between them. The young mother was rustling through her baby-bag, looking for something they needed, while the father broke apart tiny bits of saltine crackers for his laughing son. The father had sandy, slightly curly hair. He wasn't bad to look at… in fact, he didn't like _too _different from Klaus.

Caroline shook her head, realizing she was being abjectly ridiculous. She redirected her attention towards the menu. She wasn't really hungry now that she'd fed but it couldn't hurt to have some French toast to soak up any residual alcohol in her system. That plus one Abita to serve as her hair of the dog and she would be good to go. _I have to remember to call Bonnie again too, _she thought to herself idly, really just trying to keep herself distracted.

The baby at the other table laughed and she looked up. The mother had excused herself from the table to use the restroom and so the father was left alone with his son. He was making funny faces at the baby much to the child's delight. The man looked so _happy _and at peace with his child. Caroline had never really _seen _Klaus interact with his daughter. She wondered if he ever looked this at peace. She supposed he probably did… and he'd thought that _she _might be a threat to that happiness. Klaus had truly thought Caroline might harm his daughter. The idea made her sick.

Caroline slid out of the booth, moving slowly at first but then speeding up, as if she could outrun the flood of emotions threatening to flip her switch. Apparently, her distress must have shown because the waitress, who had just returned with her beer, was looking at her with a concerned frown.

"Honey?" she asked Caroline. "Are you feeling alright? You look a little sick…"

Caroline, who had been heading out to skip her bill and leave the restaurant to compose herself, turned to face the waitress. In doing so, she caught sight of the smiling baby again. His gleeful laughter and his indulgent father's smiling face was all it took; she was done for.

She crumpled, the will to hold herself up slipping from her as her emotion reentered. Brought to her knees, Caroline let out an animalistic howl of pure anguish. The pain of her mother's death and the guilt of her recent behavior hitting her all at the same time; it was too much to handle.

"Oh, dear! Honey, are you alright?" the waitress put the beer down at the nearest table and rushed over to Caroline.

Patrons around the diner were staring in complete confusion and concern as heavy, almost painful sobs began to rack Caroline's body. She could barely catch her breath; in fact, she felt like she couldn't breath. She was too overtaken by the pain and the ferocity of her tears. Subconsciously she was aware she was making horrific sounds, the kind of noises people only made when they were in the throes of intense grief. So intense was the pain, she was tempted to bash her head into the ground just to black out and find some relief. When she made a motion to do so, the waitress caught her around her shoulders. Normally a human would be no match for her vampire strength but, she was so distraught in this moment, she didn't currently have the motivation to put up a fight.

Choking, she gagged in a dry heave over the floor. She felt like she was actually drowning on her own tears. The guilt she was feeling was beyond weighing her; it was crushing her. She couldn't escape its weight, it was paralyzing her.

How many people had she killed? So many innocent lives. She'd gouged out people's eyes! The thought of it almost made her sick. She'd shunned and attempted to banish her own friends. She'd ruthlessly tried to blow up an entire pack of werewolves. And, on top of it all, she'd terribly abused Klaus's hospitality, emotions, and love for her. She'd taken advantage of the one person who had ever loved her first and she'd ridiculed his innocent daughter to boot.

"Steve! Steve, get over here, this girl needs some help!" the waitress called out to her manager.

A man was running over to them, as were several other staff members.

"Back up! Give her some space!" the man named Steve called.

Caroline was on her hands and knees now, dry heaving over the carpeted diner floor. Her sobs were so intense they were making her nauseous. She couldn't choke out a single word. The manager reached down a hand to help her up but she was still just stalled there, hacking now as she coughed, feeling far too unsteady to make it to her feet. Visions of the men in Atlanta were flashing through her mind, followed by the old Creole woman, followed by the napalm explosions and, then, Jim Milton. He may have been a drug lord but, good god, she'd bitten off his—

"I think she's having a severe panic attack, Steve," the waitress said, above her. "We're gonna have to call an ambulance."

Caroline finally had the good sense to respond to that one, shaking her head violently.

"No?" Steve asked her. "Honey, you need to let us help you."

Still sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, Caroline blindly thrust a hand into her purse, searching wildly until her fingers closed around her phone. She pulled it out and all but threw it at the man. She choked out the only name that made sense in this moment — the only person she truly wanted to see, though she doubted very much he'd come to her after everything she'd done and said.

Taking her only chance to make it through this rush-return of her humanity, she half-sobbed half-pleaded the name, "Klaus!" When the manager took her cell phone again, turning it on now, she repeated it, "Call Klaus!"

The manager waited for her phone to turn on as the waitress knelt down next to her, placing a comforting hand on Caroline's back. When it finished loading, he went into her contacts in search of the name she had mentioned, not even knowing how it would be spelled until he finally spied it.

"K-l-a-u-s?" he asked Caroline and she confirmed with an emphatic nod, tears still dramatically spilling down her face. Every time one horrible memory passed through her head, it was quickly replaced by another. She had been ready to let Klaus kill Elena… she had forgotten about that. How could her friends ever forgive her?

But, right now, Klaus was foremost on her mind. She needed him. Would he come to her? Would _he _forgive her?

Steve pressed the send button on her screen and held the phone to his ear.

* * *

**NEWS! I just began publishing a new Klaroline fic! It's called **_**Inferno**_**. It's a dystopian post-apocalyptic AU that picks up 200 years after the most recent season finales. An adult Hope Mikaelson meets Caroline for the first time; Caroline and Klaus haven't spoken or seen each other in over two centuries. A deadly virus has ravaged the Earth, leaving infected humans inedible and infected werewolves feral and dangerous. You get to see Caroline with an extra couple hundred years of experience on her, her and Klaus meeting far into the future (as the show always dangles over us as a possibility), and a slow unraveling of where everyone else is in the future… who's alive and who isn't, etc. Not all is revealed right away. So, SHAMELESS PLUG, check it out on my profile and let me know what you think. I'm super excited about the idea and promise it won't interfere with my updating this fic!**

**Obviously am dying to get your reactions to this chapter as well. I realize this is a pretty big cliffhanger. Reviews directly correlate to quicker updates, just saying. Enjoy! **


	16. Persephone Rising

"_There's the weapon you hold; There's the thing that you hold it to; And the thing you hold dear," _\- For the Pier (And Dead Shimmering), _Sunset Rubdown _

_**16 **_

_**Persephone Rising**_

* * *

Klaus had spent another restless night in search of her. But, after that, the drinking finally stopped, at long last. With her gone for two nights now, he couldn't be at all distracted, not even to numb his ever-increasing anxiety. Right now he was fast-forwarding through and speed-watching surveillance at the nearest airports — the one right here outside of NOLA as well as Houston, Austin, and Atlanta. He even had vampires making their way to Miami right now.

He hadn't found _anything_, yet. Not even close. He wasn't sure where Salvatore was quite yet either and, to be frank, he didn't truly have the time or energy to think about the latest addition to his search team. He wasn't truly worried about Salvatore, even if he was in love with Caroline; he'd never had a difficult time managing him before, after all.

Klaus was getting fed up with watching video feed and finding, yet again, _nothing_. He was tempted to take his best guess of where she might go next and simply begin searching. Would she chance Paris? He thought her too smart for something as easy as that. Maybe Eastern Europe, near the war zones? Hiding near war had always been one of Katherine's very _favorite _tactics.

And then, as he was just becoming caught up in attempting to second guess Caroline, Klaus's cell phone rang. Klaus grabbed it from his pocket, more annoyed by the interruption than anything but a nervous lump lodged itself into his throat when he read the caller ID. Time seemed to stall.

Caroline was calling him.

After all this… and she was just calling him.

"Caroline, where the hell are you?" Klaus demanded as soon as he picked up the phone.

"_Uh hello, is this someone named Klaus?"_ a nasally male voice inquired at the other end.

"Who _the fuck_ are you and _where_ is Caroline!?" Klaus bellowed into the phone, screaming more than asking.

Footsteps were approaching his study down the hall now. Unsurprisingly, just a second later Elijah appeared around the corner to investigate the source of Klaus's ire. Lately, Klaus bursting into a rage meant that someone was in danger of being decapitated for not following his orders carefully enough. One young vampire had even been ruthlessly torn apart for simply having the gall to return to Klaus with no new leads.

"_Um Sir, now calm down, please. Now, your friend here or, gosh I don't know, maybe she's your sister? Caroline, is here at my dinner off of I-10. You see, I think she's having a pretty severe anxiety attack and I think you're gonna need to come out here and pick her up. She's not in any condition to drive herself right now, I'm afraid, and she doesn't want us to call an ambulance. She's refusing help from anyone but you. Are you anywhere close to Vinton? We can call a doctor out here, if you need us to."_

Klaus cursed under his breath. Vinton, that wasn't far. She hadn't even left the state; she was closer than the time she'd run off to Atlanta.

"No, keep her there, I'm close. What's the name of your establishment?" he asked.

"_Ma's Choice Diner,"_ the manager replied with what sounded like just a hint of challenging pride in his voice, even under these circumstances.

"Get her whatever she needs, I'll settle the bill when I arrive. I'm on my way," he said. "And make sure she doesn't leave. Trust me when I say her anxiety attacks leave her a danger to herself."

He hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket and car keys. He didn't have a clue what she was playing at this time.

"Klaus, what's going on?" Elijah asked, close on his heels. "Have you found her?"

"Well, we can never say anything for sure with Caroline, can we?" was all Klaus said in reply.

* * *

Klaus was speeding out to Vinton with Elijah and a handful of other vampires just in case Caroline was still plotting something and had anything nasty planned for him. As much as he wanted her back, he was still wary of Caroline. He'd seen what she was capable of without her humanity and he wouldn't put it past her to do whatever it took to secure her freedom from him once and for all. It was still true that, if she hadn't turned her emotions back on, all he wanted was to tell her that she could always come back… as long as she'd truly flipped her switch.

They'd taken two cars, with Elijah driving up with him. With any luck, it would be just himself and Caroline in a car on the way back but, honestly, Klaus wasn't even daring to let himself think of that possibility quite yet. It seemed almost far-fetched that she would have turned her emotions back on.

Yet the man on the phone _had _reported that Caroline was in the midst of an anxiety attack. He'd said she refused help and only asked for _him. _All the same, a human could easily be compelled to tell any story Caroline wished.

The trip to Vinton from New Orleans was typically over three hours but they were driving at a speed to make it in half the time. The car following them had been specifically tasked with dealing with the police. Klaus was expertly weaving in and out of traffic, ten years hunting for Katherine in Germany and using the Autobahn had given him solid driving skills — well, that and compelling his way onto some famous race courses every now and then.

But the reminder of Katherine was a painful launch into another series of cascading thoughts about Caroline. Above them all was the paramount fear that he'd simply never see her again.

"Klaus, must we truly endanger every innocent human we pass on the road on our way there?" Elijah asked as Klaus's car narrowly accelerated illegally between two lanes of thick traffic. He caught the first break in traffic he saw to weave, his tires screeching as he did, out onto the shoulder of the road and drive there instead.

"Not to mention, I have no desire to break a leg today myself..." Elijah continued, to his unflappable and deadly silent brother in the driver's seat. "Or my neck, or anything else for that matter."

"Not now, Elijah," Klaus growled, finally.

Elijah had been trying to engage him the entire drive and he'd done his best to studiously disengage and solely focus on driving. He could not have cared less if they crashed. They'd just heal and get out of the car and compel another one if they did.

Elijah looked over to his brother who was at his most intimidating. Klaus was all but holding the famous "Kubrick Stare," not looking _unlike _the main character from _A Clockwork Orange _as he pushed his car to the same dangerous speeds portrayed in the film. He then vaguely remembered that Caroline was a Kubrick fan and he wondered what she'd make of Klaus looking like one of his most famous characters right now. He assumed she'd have something quick but biting to say about it.

"You _still _haven't even entirely explained to me what's going on," he pressed to Klaus. "Something about some man calling you from her phone? Is everything okay?"

"I must admit, Elijah, I'm surprised you're even here," Klaus snapped, not answering his queries right away. "What do you care? You made it perfectly clear that you're far more invested in our dear sister Freya."

"Well, I _am _here. I've chosen to be by your side, have I not?" Elijah said. "So are you going to brief me on what the hell is going on or not?"

Klaus offered him a rare genuine, but short, smile. Truly, he was glad that his brother had remained on his side despite their arguments.

"I got a call from some restaurant manager in Vinton," Klaus explained. "He says that Caroline is having a severe panic attack and has requested my assistance."

"You think her humanity may be back," Elijah surmised.

Klaus didn't respond or look over after that. His jaw merely clenched but it was the only answer Elijah needed. That indeed was what Klaus was hoping; he just wasn't ready to let himself believe it was true. He likely wouldn't believe it until he saw her.

* * *

They'd taken Caroline to the manager's office in the back of the restaurant. In the back of her hysterical mind, she realized it was a big back-room. There was actually a futon at the far end of the room.

"Some of our chefs work twelve hour shifts and need to rest back here," the waitress explained as she led the sobbing girl over to the futon. "You can rest here."

Caroline nodded, gratefully, but still fully unable to slow her crying. The woman made a motion to leave but Caroline grabbed her wrist. As long as someone was talking to her, she was able to focus on what they were saying. The moment she was left alone with her own thoughts, Caroline was completely unable to stop or even slow the onslaught of terrible memories or the waves of guilt flooding over her.

"Sure, I can stay," the waitress said when Caroline tugged her back. "My name's Amy. Steve said that your friend Klaus said your name is Caroline?"

Caroline nodded, amidst her tears.

"Is Klaus your brother, Caroline?" she asked.

Caroline vehemently shook her head no. _My brother? _she thought to herself. The idea was almost enough to make her laugh and she did.

But it quickly turned into a kind of disturbing, hysterical laughter, mixed with her tears. Amy put a hand to her back in an awkward _there-there _sort-of motion.

"Oh, so I guess he's your boyfriend?" Amy asked.

That made Caroline's hysterical laughter slow and she was just back to crying again. She gave Amy a confused and noncommittal shrug. The waitress nodded in understanding.

"Well, whoever he is, Steve could tell he cared about you a lot," Amy said. "And he's on his way now. You'll be headed home soon."

_Home_. Yes, she wanted to go home.

* * *

"Why has she dragged herself _here _of all places?" Elijah questioned in disgust when they pulled up to the tiny diner. It looked like it hadn't updated its signage or decor — and likely its menu — since the 1970s.

Klaus was ignoring him, though, already storming into the establishment. The rest of the NOLA vampires he'd assigned to come with him would be arriving soon after and they'd already received orders to patrol the area once they did.

As soon as Klaus was inside, the door slammed behind him. Elijah followed at a more respectable pace. Patrons inside were looking up from their meals curiously at the two imposing men, one dressed to the nines in a clearly pricey suit and the other the portrait of rage.

Klaus approached a young man at the front of the restaurant.

"I'm looking for Steve," Klaus hissed in a tone even he hadn't expected from himself.

The statement was benign enough but, the way the young waiter was shaking in front of Klaus, he might as well have just been told he was about to be executed. Luckily an older gentleman — the actual Steve — rushed forward when he recognized Klaus's accented voice from over the phone.

"Hello, sir, right this way," he said, leading the terrifying men out of his dining room and away from his customers. "Your friend is fine. She's resting in our break room."

Immediately Klaus began to size up the situation as they headed towards the back of the restaurant. He could usually spot human compulsion in under a second and he didn't detect a sign of it here, not from the staff or the patrons. At scattered tables around the restaurant, customers were sitting with their food but completely ignoring their meals. Every eye was on him as he breezed past them. Filtering in behind him were the other vampires. Between himself, Elijah, and the other dark-looking vampire mercenaries, they made a startling impression. Compelled humans wouldn't have had such a genuinely shocked response.

Steve led him through a closed door marked _Employees Only _behind the restaurant's small bar. Beyond the door was a small white hallway that led to a break room and the manager's office. Steve knocked on the door to the break room in three quick raps before swinging the door open and stepping aside to let Klaus go in first.

When Klaus entered, Caroline stood without thinking. Amy stepped back, immediately sensing the energy between the two as soon as they saw each other. It was palpable and almost mesmerizing. Nevertheless, she quickly excused herself upon realizing she wasn't needed anymore.

He knew as soon as he laid eyes on her that she was back. _Really _back. Even with tears streaming down her face, even though she looked like she was in terrible pain, her light had returned. It was like he was really seeing her again for the first time — the first time he'd met he since he last visited Mystic Falls. _She'd asked for him first. _

"He said you were fine," Klaus said to her softly.

"What?" she breathed out in quiet confusion. Who said she was fine?

"That little man that called me over the phone," he said, taking a step towards her, mostly to test her reaction. "He said you were fine but you clearly are _not_."

She didn't step back or away from him. She didn't recoil or even look apprehensive at all. Caroline was steadily holding his eye contact and the air was like a magnet between them.

He didn't hold himself back after that. He crossed the small room in just two quick strides and had her in his arms where she promptly dissolved. Her surprise at seeing him arrive so quickly — she was surprised that he'd come at all, really — had briefly distracted her enough to stall the unending grief she was suffering. But now, with him holding her, she had full permission to get it out of her system so she did.

It felt like she was expelling some toxic, vile poison from her as she allowed her humanity to reach back into her fully. It hurt like hell but being so close to Klaus now _also _felt different. It felt _good_, right. And through her misery, she might have even detected the smallest amount of happiness. That final realization, of course, came with its own new waves of guilt, as well.

"I'm _sorry_," she let out as she cried into him, thankful that his strong hold around her shaking frame was holding her together. She was pressing her face into his chest, not caring if she was giving in too easily or acting ridiculous or unattractive. Right now, the scent and feel of him was the only thing grounding her as she weathered these feelings.

"_No,"_ he replied in an immediate and fierce growl, "You're back, that's all that matters. _I'm _sorry, Caroline. I'm sorry I ever tried to keep you. You don't know what it was like. You don't know what you were like when you had your humanity off. I couldn't trust you. I should have just let you go."

The worst part was that Caroline knew very well what it was like when she'd had it off. She could remember every awful detail of how ruthless she'd been and had worried that he still wouldn't trust her from the moment she'd had the manager call him at the diner. Luckily he _knew _her and had no doubts from the second he'd seen her and could see that her light had returned.

He hadn't honestly been sure what he'd do if she finally turned her emotions back on. He knew he'd be happy but, he'd been so worried that she wouldn't want to come back to him that he hadn't dared to think much beyond that. Knowing that the very _first _thing she'd done after her humanity had returned was to call what he now considered her home made him want to kiss her on the spot but she seemed far too distressed for such a display at the moment. Instead he chose to wipe away the tears at her face, pressing her into him in another embrace when she avoided his eyes, embarrassed.

She was always so easily embarrassed when she had her humanity, he'd forgotten about that. Caroline always made such a vehement show of seeming together and confident… but he'd watched her closely enough over time to get a sense of how she was really feeling despite the brave face she always wore for her friends in Virginia. Though it was endearing, to see her feel vulnerable with him, it was completely unnecessary. Didn't she know he thought her the most wonderful woman in the world? He hoped one day she would again be as confident as her humanity-less self but because she felt completely comfortable and safe with him and his family… not because she didn't care about anything.

In his arms she was shaking so fiercely he thought she might be in pain, so he held onto her tighter, hoping to help her regain some control. Most vampires reacted with extreme guilt after they turned their switch back on but, Klaus could have easily guessed it would affect Caroline the worst. She so genuinely cared about doing the right thing and respecting all life that this would be a huge obstacle for her to recover from. And as pained as he was for her at the prospect, now he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the feeling of simple hope; he'd not had that since his daughter was returned to him.

Finally, Caroline's shaking was beginning to slow and he felt her shift in his arms. How long had he been holding her? A few minutes or over half an hour? He wasn't sure; he'd been so focused on making sure she wouldn't shatter under the weight of her own grief.

"Klaus?" Caroline asked, looking up at him again. "Could you… could you compel me?"

He immediately frowned, not knowing what on Earth she was suggesting. He didn't like the idea of needing to compel her. Especially not after everything they'd been through recently.

"Not for long," she assured him, another blush rising on her cheeks as she explained the request, "Just… I'm in so much pain and, I know I have to deal with it and work through it but I just need to sleep. Just until we get home. Could you do that?"

He nodded, "Of course, love. Anything you need," he said, kissing her temple before pulling back to let his eyes darken in compulsion, "Sleep, Caroline. I'll wake you when we've arrived home."

_Anything she needed… wanted_. Caroline had no clue how true the promise was.

She was out in his arms instantly after that, so he picked her to walk her back to the car. Exiting the back room to go out through the front again, he was subjected to more bewildered looks. Steve, the manager, looked even more perturbed than when Klaus had first arrived and that was saying something. From the moment Klaus had arrived in a rage, he'd mistaken the situation for Caroline returning to a bad situation. Since then, although he'd kept her from getting any _worse, _he hadn't successfully calmed Caroline down. Now, here she was looking completely _passed out _in Klaus's arms.

"Take care of this, would you?" Klaus said to Elijah and a few of the vampires that had joined them in the restaurant. He nodded his head in the direction of the bewildered staff. That Steve fellow was doing a very poor job of concealing the fact that he had one hand on a phone beneath the hostess counter at the front of the restaurant. "I'll meet you back at the compound," he finished.

Elijah nodded and they set up compelling all of the staff and patrons at the establishment. Klaus carried Caroline back to the car where he buckled her into the passenger's seat to sleep for a few hours on their trip home.

* * *

"You _said _she told you that she planned to keep in touch," Stefan reiterated for maybe the thousandth time as they parked in a rest stop maybe half an hour north of NOLA. "Why on Earth would she just drop communication when she seemed so desperate for a cloaking spell?"

"Stefan, we've been over this about three dozen times now," Damon said, stepping out of the car with Elena. "And no one has an answer for you. Still."

Though Bonnie had come to Stefan first after she'd received the call from Caroline, they both ultimately decided they had to alert Elena as well. They both wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible to find her before Klaus did but, luckily, it was quick work to persuade Elena… mostly because it didn't require any persuasion. With a ton of apologies tossed to Jo for having to step out of the state so close to her wedding, Elena had immediately joined them as soon as she discovered that her best friend had _finally _reached out for help.

Damon had bitched and moaned, as was to be expected. But, of course, he'd joined them soon after. Partly it was just because he'd follow Elena to the ends of the Earth but, partly it was out of respect to his recently passed friend Sheriff Forbes. He knew she would never be able to stand the thought of her daughter running from Klaus Mikaelson without her humanity on.

Because Bonnie had never heard back from Caroline again, she never put the cloaking spell up. Though, honestly, she'd never intended to follow up with that promise. Instead she was now performing a locator spell. Stefan had been trying to do a fake check-in with Klaus all morning, for the sake of their purported truce but, had no luck getting in touch with him either.

"Stefan, just say what you're thinking," Elena pressed.

He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he looked at a road sign directing them back to New Orleans.

"You know I haven't been able to get in touch with Klaus all day either," he responded. "Between the two of them being off our radar… I'm worried he has her."

"_Finally _he says it!" Damon crowed. "Does that mean we can stop playing the game where Stefan repeats the same rhetorical questions three times an hour?"

"That's what we're all worried about," Bonnie said firmly, ignoring Damon completely. She was bent over her map in heavy concentration. "And it looks like we're right to be…"

Bonnie had brought a multitude of items with them to attempt to locate Caroline, not truly expecting them to work. As she'd explained over the phone about cloaking spells, locator spells also needed at least an object of significance to Caroline for the spell to work. Since Caroline had her humanity off, none of these would have any meaning to her. She'd started with a locket first, one she was pretty sure was a gift from Caroline's mother.

Then, to her surprise, after just a few moments of steady and concentrated chanting, the locket had begun to center over a slowly moving location, guiding Bonnie's hand over the map with a delicate and mystical pull.

"I've located her," Bonnie explained to them softly, "And it looks like she's heading _back _to New Orleans."

* * *

Klaus didn't wake her when they returned to the Abattoir as he said he would but, compulsion was a powerful thing. He'd only intended for it to last until they arrived and so she began to wake without prompting as he carried her up the stairs. The first thing she noticed was that he was taking her to her old room.

"No," she said, without hesitation, "Can we stay in your room?"

"We?" Klaus asked, already feeling his heart swell with emotion at the idea that she wanted to stay in his room at all, much less _with _him.

"I mean, you don't have to, of course," Caroline began covering up the slip. "It's the middle of the day, I understand if you need to be..." she let that dangle.

She realized she'd been purposefully leading Klaus around so frequently these days that she had no idea where he would _actually _be or what he'd be doing if left to his own devices in New Orleans. She hadn't bothered to learn much about his personal life here in New Orleans at all, actually — and she was well aware that he made every effort to know and understand her as well as possible.

Caroline added it on to the ever growing checklist of things she needed to repent and repair. Klaus could sense her growing discomfort as more pain began to bombard her.

"Of course I'm staying with you, love," he assured her as he laid her down on his bed and then climbed in over top of her, pulling her into his side. "How could you think I'd ever leave now that I have you back?"

She pressed herself more securely into him. If she hadn't still been so drained and physically exhausted from this whole ordeal, she thought she might have had the guts to actually turn and kiss him right then. Losing herself in him didn't seem like the worst idea at the moment… but it also felt unfair — like she wouldn't be paying her due after all the horrible actions she'd committed.

Her body was still wracked with guilt, grief, and pain but, being back with Klaus was making her feel far more secure than she'd anticipated. Ultimately, she gave in to the security at least somewhat. Not daring to turn back around to him, she did surrender to his embrace and allowed sleep to overcome her again, this time more naturally.

Unfortunately, she was only met by fitful and agonizing dreams.

* * *

**I am so sorry for making you guys wait on this. I've had nothing but late closing shifts at work these past several days and I've just been too beat to write. This upcoming week my schedule is better though, so I plan to pick up the updating schedule.**

**If you don't know what the Kubrick Stare is, I would google it. Just imagine how creepy and intimidating but also really hot it would be if Klaus ever did that stare on the show. He's come close but not ever with that crazy intensity, IMO anyway. **

**Hope this satisfied any fluff cravings you might have been having. I aim for my stories to having everything from lemons to dark moments to fluff, so I hope I came through. There will definitely be more to come. Very excited to hear what you all think!**

_**Inferno, **_**the new Klaroline fic,****will be updated soon, probably today. Caroline will make her first appearance in the second chapter so if anyone is looking for something new to start while they wait for my next chapter here, I'd love for you to check out and give me your thoughts! **


	17. Rebirth

"_You're the one who's kissing your captor's hands,"_ \- Up on Your Leopard, _Sunset Rubdown_

_**17**_

_**Rebirth**_

Some of the skills Caroline had developed while her humanity had been off, specifically learning to evade Klaus's notice, must have stuck because when he woke she was no longer in bed beside him. The old familiar panic rose in his throat for a split second until the quietest of sighs from across the room caught his notice.

Caroline had risen from bed and showered. She was draped in a terrycloth robe and standing at his window overlooking the courtyard. Her hair was still damp and tousled from the shower. Mimicking her look was the weather outside, a dull and steady drizzle of rain was pattering at the window from an evenly grey sky.

She still looked exhausted but, she wasn't crying. In fact, she was just staring outside with concerned eyes.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked her, breaking the silence and making her startle with a small jump.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Did I wake you?"

It was such a simple question but it was also a powerful reminder that she was really back. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Caroline be concerned, even minutely, for anyone other than herself.

"You never do," he said, rising from the bed and removing his now wrinkled shirt before walking over to the closet.

Caroline quickly averted her eyes to look back out the window and he thought he detected the smallest of blushes as she did. If he hadn't been hypersensitive to her feelings in this moment, it would have made him laugh. Instead of continuing to the closet to find an un-wrinkled shirt, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around from the front, pulling her to lean into him.

He saw her close her eyes contentedly in the reflection of the window and she relaxed just slightly into his hold. He hardly dared to believe it at this point but, it was starting to seem like she might really truly stay with him.

"Bonnie's been calling me nonstop," Caroline told him.

Until she said that.

"Oh?" he asked, not caring if he sounded hurt or nonchalant, "I didn't realize you two were in contact."

"I got in touch with her when… when I had it off," Caroline said. "At the time I thought you might be tracking me and I was just trying to get away. I have to call her back eventually."

At the time? Eventually? These were all clues that made it sound like she really was planning to stay. Still, he didn't dare outright ask.

Caroline turned so that she could face him but remained in his arms. With her looking up into his eyes so honestly, he couldn't help but be open in return.

"I… may have enlisted the help of Stefan Salvatore as well," he admitted.

Caroline's eyes widened in surprise at the huge admission. He had called the one other vampire who could potentially be seen as competition just to get her back? Klaus really had been desperate, hadn't he?

"Well, I suppose they'll be together," Caroline said.

"No, he wouldn't," Klaus said. "Stefan knows better than to cross me."

"Klaus," Caroline prompted, in a _get real _sort-of tone, "They're _definitely _together."

He almost laughed because he internalized that, of course, she was right. And then, it also occurred to him that Caroline was maybe the _single _person in the world who could correct him and escape his wrath. Not only would she escape his anger, she would only make him feel like laughing about it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, looking down at her tenderly.

Caroline wasn't going to hide from what had happened. The only way she could even begin to make amends with everyone — and more importantly herself — was by confronting what she'd done head on and working through it.

"I started _smoking cigarettes," _she replied, not quite answering his question but, clearly disgusted with herself. It was a small admission. It was the easiest thing to start with.

"Yes, you did," he said. "You smoked some other things too."

"Yeah but… _cigarettes?" _Caroline pressed.

"I tried making that point," he said. "You didn't have any qualms at the time. You aren't still craving them, are you?"

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I'm not even sure I was craving them then," she admitted. "I think it was more about projecting a certain look."

"You did seem intent on maintaining the general air of a badass at all times," he said, indulgently. He was still very aware that she was working through a lot right now but, he could barely believe she was here. Caroline, the _real _Caroline, was really here and she was letting him hold her. They'd just slept in each others arms like commited lovers.

"Badass, right," she replied, growing sour and self-deprecating. "If Stefan had his humanity off, it would have been real chaos. I barely even made it two weeks."

Klaus was shocked that she'd said that, of all things. He didn't want to go out of his way to remind her of the havoc she'd wrought — she was already feeling terrible enough — but surely she had to realize that those two weeks had been an intense struggle. Not only had she been dangerous, she'd been unapologetically emotionally manipulative.

Knowing better than to outright mention any of this, Klaus responded with a simple, "Thank god it wasn't a second longer."

"Of course!" she said, pushing out of his hold to slap a hand to her forehead in realization. "No, you're right. I don't even _know _how many people I killed because I never bothered to find out how many people died in the Napalm explosion…"

Klaus could see that she was starting to grow anxious again so he pressed himself closer to her, almost out of instinct.

"It wasn't _you," _he insisted. "The only thing you need to think about is the fact that you're back now. It could have been longer and it could have been worse but, those are only facts to be thankful for. It's nothing to feel ashamed of. You should be proud that you were able to come back, most vampires don't have the strength."

His speech honestly did make her feel better and she wondered if it was because she was looking for an excuse to escape her guilt or… Well, perhaps it was because Klaus _knew _her and understood what she needed to hear.

"I really do need to call Bonnie back," she said, pushing away from him suddenly and stalking back towards the bed. "They must be still trapped outside the city. You'll have to un-compel Stefan."

"So you're going back with them then?" Klaus asked, surprised at the thickness in his voice.

Caroline had been headed to find her phone but, upon hearing his questions and clearly hurt tone, she turned to face him with genuinely wide eyes. Didn't he _know? _

"I hadn't planned on it…" she admitted. "But I still need to see them. I need to talk with them and explain myself. They're my friends. They're the closest thing I have to family right now."

"You're staying?" Klaus asked, still needing absolute confirmation.

"Well, I had… thought I would," Caroline said, her brow furrowing in confusion and worry. "I mean, I'll need to go back to Virginia for a _bit_, of course, to say goodbye and pack up but I just feel like I'm in a different place now. It doesn't feel right to go back. But if it's a problem… I mean, if I've screwed things up too badly here and need to leave then-"

Klaus cut her off by crossing the short distance she'd put between them in a single step and gathering her in his arms. Without waiting to gage her reaction he pulled her back into him, covering her mouth with his own for what now felt like the first time since he'd last seen her in Mystic Falls. It was an innate response after being told that Caroline had moved on from her old life, and specifically to move forward with him? He couldn't help needing to kiss her on the spot.

And, pleasingly, it immediately appeared that Caroline's response was every bit as natural. She melted into his embrace. Ever since she'd flipped her switch back on, every second had been a flood of emotions. Primarily, dealing with their return had been difficult and painful. But she'd forgotten that without her humanity, she'd also gone a long time without experiencing _happiness… _not to mention love, for that matter. She'd _missed _those feelings and lust was so much better feeling when it was connected to something real.

Feeling her respond with true warmth — coupled with the knowledge that this was finally and truly Caroline offering _all _of herself to _him_ — he was encouraged into pressing her back against the wall behind them gently but firmly. She curled into him, reaching up to wrap her small hands around his shoulders and neck. He groaned at her touch and used his knee to part open her thighs so he could press into her. She writhed into him while letting out her own moan but Klaus used the last few seconds he had with a clear head to pull back from her.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, finding it hard to ignore the lust he found in her confused eyes, "Are you sure you're ready for this… _now?" _

Caroline sighed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to compose herself. It wasn't that she wasn't ready for Klaus… that had changed when she'd realized he was ultimately her trigger; it had only taken being separated from him to figure it out. Caroline felt she needed to wait because she had too much to do before she could begin indulging in a new life. She had a lot to make up for and she had to at least _start _rectifying her life first.

"No, you're right," she said, pushing him back lightly so she could lean back against the wall while putting some space between them. "I have a lot I need. I can't just be jumping into bed for my own gratification after I've killed… fuck, I'm not even sure how many people."

Klaus nodded, understanding that she needed time; it was why he'd stopped himself in the first place. But, of course, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Well, for _both _our sakes, I hope you don't feel the need to punish yourself too long," Klaus said.

"It's not about that. Well maybe a little but… Look, I'm going to get dressed and then call Bonnie," Caroline said. "They'll be stuck outside of the city. We'll have to go meet them."

"We?" he asked, genuinely still surprised by her at every turn right now.

"Well… given the fact that I'm choosing to stay with you," she said, "I think it would probably be a little more _serious _to them if you came with me. Now, don't get me wrong, _I'm_ going to do all of the talking but, I think your presence is warranted."

Klaus promptly decided that letting her do all the talking would be negotiable upon arrival.

* * *

By the time Caroline was working up her nerve to call Bonnie, the Mystic Falls group was immediately outside of the city at a rest stop where people would park their cars before taking shuttles to the airport. It wasn't exactly the most charming place to stop and plan but, it was inconspicuous and free of distraction.

"I always forget," Damon began, "How weird it feels to be compelled."

The others were hovered over the hood of their car watching Bonnie perform yet another locator spell to confirm where Caroline. It was growing easier and easier; objects Bonnie felt sure would hold know connection to a humanity-less Caroline had a strong pull throughout the spell.

"I think she has her humanity back on," Bonnie murmured, exchanging a wide-eyed glance with Elena and outright ignoring Damon.

Damon was still pushing himself at the invisible boundary they'd seemed to find when they'd initially tried to keep driving beyond the parking lot. Stefan could not control his slowing of the car and, then, when they'd all stepping out into the parking lot, they'd found a sort invisible fence blocking their progression on foot. Any time they tried to take a step closer to the city an unknown force would softly push them back.

"I mean, it's all in my head, right?" Damon asked, ignoring Bonnie right back. "I _could _keep walking. There's no _real _boundary here. The compulsion is just making me _think _I'm getting held back. God I hate Originals!"

"And if she does have her humanity back on?" Stefan asked. "Is she with Klaus willingly or has he taken her captive again?"

"If she has her humanity back _and _she's with him willingly she would have called us," Elena insisted. "He must be holding her. Caroline would never leave us waiting to hear she was back."

As if on cue, Bonnie's cell phone started ringing in her back pocket. She visibly startled as she pulled it out and flashed them the screen. It was Caroline. Even Damon stopped his game of trying to break his compulsion when Bonnie answered the call.

"Care?" she asked, unable to hide the concern in her voice.

"_Bonnie, I'm back," _Caroline replied, her voice clear to everyone thanks to their vampire senses.

Bonnie's breath hitched in her throat for a moment, she was so happy to hear her real friend was finally back but, she quickly composed herself.

"Where are you? Are you okay?" she asked.

"_I'm fine… emotionally overwhelmed but fine," _Caroline replied. _"I'm in New Orleans again. I'm with Klaus." _

"Caroline, do you need our help?" Bonnie asked, trying to get to the root of her friend's situation as quickly as possible.

"_No, I'm fine-" _Caroline interrupted herself and took a moment to let out a deep breath. _"Where are you? I need to come see you. Bon, I'm so sorry for everything-" _

This time Bonnie cut her off. "Care, it's fine, we just want to see you. We're right outside the city…"

Stefan turned around to pace as Bonnie finished giving Caroline directions and hung up the phone.

"That didn't sound like she was being kept against her will," he said.

Elena looked at him in sad agreement and then turned to Bonnie to see what had been decided.

"She's on her way to see us," Bonnie said. "She wanted to undo our compulsion but I told her you all had vervain in your systems."

"Ah, not being able to get back into New Orleans is no great loss," Damon said. "I'm so _over _that place now that it's crawling with Originals."

"Damon, if you're going to be this cavalier when Caroline gets here, just don't say anything at all," Elena fumed at him. "She's just turned her humanity back on. I don't think sarcasm is going to do anyone any favors right now."

Damon looked properly put in place after that and he piped down. But Stefan still looked anxious.

"Do we even know who she's coming with?" he asked.

"You think she's coming with Klaus?" Elena returned.

Damon didn't say anything but he shot an annoyed that suggested _'duh!' _

"Well it's something we should be prepared for…" Bonnie said.

"Prepare for?" Stefan asked, almost angrily. "Do _you _have a white oak stake on you?"

"Stefan, I know you're upset but try to calm down," Elena said. "We don't know what's going on yet."

"All we can do is wait for her to show up," Bonnie agreed. "It's no use turning on each other in the meantime."

Stefan turned away from the group to watch cars drive back and forth across the entrance to the lot, waiting for Caroline to arrive. He did feel bad for snapping at Bonnie but, the truth was, he had a feeling he knew what Caroline had chosen. And he could only face her arrival with an ever increasing sense of dread.

* * *

**So so so sorry for the big delay! Honestly it's partly because I've been wanting to give **_**Inferno **_**the same strong start I gave this fic. I still strongly recommend you give it a read. Klaus and Caroline are officially interacting — **_**in the future! **_**And scary things are about to happen! I'd love to hear what fans of this story think of that one. It's probably the strongest / most in-charge version of Caroline I've written yet.**

**Also! ****As many of my fellow Klaroline fans know, it is a very special time of year. We've reached The Klaroline Awards 2015! It's a competition on tumblr where everyone can nominate and vote for their favorite fics, gifs, and videos made in the past year. You do not need to have a tumblr to participate so please take a moment to visit the Klaroline Awards blog and show your favorite authors some much needed love with a nomination. Even if you don't feel compelled to nominate, it's a great blog that fans work really hard on. And it will introduce you to a wealth of the best Klaroline fics (plus some steamy gifs and videos) on the planet so it's worth checking out!**

**My next update on this (early next week) will be much longer. This chapter is just shorter because I felt like those two scenes needed to stand alone together. I also figured you'd want it sooner rather than later! Please review! :D **


	18. Parachute

"_I don't tell anyone about the way you hold my hand. I don't tell anyone about the things that we have planned. I won't tell anybody... they wanna push me down, they wanna see you fall down," _Ingrid Michaelson, _Parachute _

_**18**_

**_Parachute_  
**

Of course, Klaus insisted on driving which was fine with Caroline given she only had a vague idea of where Bonnie had described they were waiting. He'd also insisted on a car of Marcel's vampires, accompanied by Elijah, follow them. Caroline rolled her eyes but even begrudgingly agreed to this on the condition that they remain _outside _of the parking lot when they arrived.

Caroline still hadn't seen Elijah since they'd all got back to The Abattoir. When they'd arrived and she'd awoken to Klaus carrying her, the place had seen strangely empty. When they'd left to drive out of the city, it seemed empty still. It was a stark contrast to when the place had been flooded with vampires guarding her.

"Where is everyone?" she asked in the next time they got into the car to head out. She'd gotten dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with some sunglasses. It was even comforting to see her dressing normal again. She did look a nervous wreck, though, and it made Klaus want to pull over the car until he could convince her that she didn't _have _to do this and then kiss her until she didn't care anymore either way.

However, he sincerely doubted that would go over well. Caroline clearly had her mind made up on doing this and she just wanted to get it over with.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"At the compound," Caroline explained. "Where are the vampires… and your family?"

"They'll be back later tonight, perhaps even by the time we return home," Klaus said — _assuming there were no obstacles to returning home _— "I just asked that everyone leave for a few hours before we returned earlier this morning. I assumed being surrounded by a lot of people probably wouldn't have been exactly perfect to bombarded by when you first woke up."

"Thank you," she said, sincerely, looking up at him from her steadfast gaze out the window. She had so much on her mind at the moment that she'd spent the ride so far in steely silence but, it wasn't because she was at all upset with Klaus. "I'm sorry to have kept you from your family any longer than necessary. I'm glad they'll be back."

_You're my family_, Klaus wanted to fiercely explain to her but, they were finally pulling into the parking lot they had been directed to. At the far end, they could see Damon and Stefan pacing around the pavement as they waited.

"Christ, they brought the whole lot of them." Klaus began to complain as soon as he caught sight of Elena with the rest of them. "I thought you just said it would be Bonnie and Stefan?"

"Have you seriously learned _nothing _about us since you started returning to Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked with a quirked eyebrow. And it was so good to see her joking again that, for a split second, he almost forgot about the fact that the love of his life, very likely his eternal _mate_ was about to have a conversation with a competing male.

Sparring him one last parting glance, filled with reservations, Caroline opened the car door and stepped out. Her friends, a few yards away, immediately stopped what they were doing to watch her approach.

"Care?" Bonnie asked first, as she walked up. They were all piled around the outside of the car, the map of New Orleans still spread out on the hood in front of them.

"Hi guys…" Caroline answered slowly, unsure even how to _begin _this interaction.

But, unbeknownst to her, they all — minus Damon — let out a collective sigh of relief. Caroline, when she had her emotions on, had an extremely emotive face. It was one of the things that Klaus had always found most appealing about her and it had all but disappeared after she'd shut it off. Now, her emotions were apparent on her features the moment she slipped off her sunglasses to look her friends in the eye. She was hurting, questioning, ashamed, but hopfull and something else… sure of herself.

"_Caroline!" _Elena exclaimed, almost disbelievingly, rushing forward to greet her friend with outstretched arms — despite Damon's obvious reservations. Much like Klaus, he was suspicious enough to believe that this all might be a ruse of Caroline's.

Caroline quickly proved otherwise, though, when she graciously accepted Elena's embrace, letting out a happy choked laugh-sob when Bonnie rushed to them next to fling herself on top of the group hug.

"You're back…" Bonnie said and Caroline was shocked at the genuine warmth she was receiving from her friends. Even after Elena had turned her emotions back on and resolved things with all of them, Caroline had felt the bitter sting of resentment against Elena longer than she'd care to admit. "Jo is going to be _so _pissed at you, you haven't been there to plan any of the wedding!"

"I'm sorry," Caroline said, simply and without being weepy. She was only going to say it once. It was all she had room for. She was also grateful for Elena's gesture. She was starting with a small transgression, acknowledging and forgiving it because Elena had once been in the same situation herself and she knew how difficult it was to look for forgiveness.

"Trust me, Caroline," Elena said, pulling back from her friend, "If there's one issue I can feel true empathy for, it's this. I understand what you were going through. Stefan does too."

Caroline glanced, for the first time, behind the girls to where the Salvatore brothers were still waiting by the car. Damon lifted up his hand to waggle his fingers at her in sarcastic greeting. Stefan was watching her passively… maybe even almost hopefully? And when Klaus could see them making eye contact from the car he finally opened the door and got out.

Her head whipped around at the sound of him disturbing their reunion and she leveled an impressive glare at him. He held up his hands defensively, just standing to lean against the hood of the car with his arms and ankles crossed in front of him. He'd let her have her time, as he'd all but promised but, he'd be damned if he was just going to sit in the car to wait for her like some invisible chauffeur.

"Wait a minute," Damon began. "I thought this was a rescue mission? I thought you were being held captive? Balto over here looks just as whipped as ever."

Klaus's head snapped up to glare at him, letting loose a menacing growl. And Elena turned to Damon giving him a pissed off _shush. _

"You're one to talk," Caroline replied dryly. Apparently even the return of emotions didn't bring her any warmer feelings towards Damon.

"So, we can leave now," Bonnie suggested hopefully, "Now that you've turned it back on?"

"Actually…" Caroline began.

Elena was the first to catch her eye knowingly. She had seen the new Caroline step out of the car with Klaus. She wasn't just different because her emotions had returned. She was different because Klaus had turned out to be her trigger. Caroline didn't even have to say anything because Elena already knew.

It wasn't going to be so easy with Bonnie, though. she faced Caroline with defiant and hurt eyes.

"Actually _what?" _Bonnie asked.

"I'm staying here," Caroline answered softly. "I'm staying with Klaus."

Bonnie looked over Caroline's shoulder at Klaus with nothing but pure disgust on her face. Klaus simply grinned back cheekily. In all honesty, though, despite his display of self-assurance, finally hearing Caroline say to her friends that she was choosing to stay with him… He could barely believe it all wasn't a dream. If he'd still had a working heart, he thought it might have been beating out of his chest right about now.

"With Klaus?" Bonnie insisted incredulously.

"Come on," Elena said, trying to deviate any fights before they started, "Let's talk somewhere a little more private."

* * *

Somewhere turned out to be the far end of the parking lot, where the girls spent over an hour talking everything out. Stefan was giving them their privacy but, Caroline was aware this was in part because he intended to have his own talk with her. Damon had taken upon the duty of heckling Klaus while Caroline told her story which, at the very least, kept Klaus moderately distracted.

"So are we ever gonna get an invitation back into this place?" Damon asked. "I mean, we weren't exactly anxious to get compelled again today so we're all on vervain but, I dunno, maybe sometime in the future you could lift the compulsion?

Klaus offered him a side-eyed glare. "That remains to be seen," he told Damon while staring after Caroline. "Not to mention, NOLA isn't currently as desirable a place to visit as it once was. I'm aiming to change that."

"Yeah, so I've heard," Damon acknowledged, "And yet our little Barbie here wants to stay with you…?"

"She's not _your little anything!" _Klaus snapped not really feeling as angry as he was displaying. Caroline was staying with him and, truly, the thought of it was enough to make him feel about to burst. So potent was his happiness, it was almost terrifying.

Damon backed off. Heckling the Original Big Bad Wolf was fun but not fun enough to risk a bite over.

Talking everything over with Bonnie and Elena, Caroline had admitted that Klaus had ultimately been her trigger… how the further she strayed from him the more forcefully her emotions pushed at her. It was clear it was difficult for them to hear but, ultimately they had been surprisingly willing to part on happy terms. No one had any intention of inviting Klaus to their next dinner party but, they owed him their gratitude for bringing their friend back. Having Caroline back, even if she wanted to stay with Klaus, was better than losing her entirely.

Eventually they'd parted with hugs, making plans for Caroline to visit in Virginia soon. She still had a lot of packing to do both in Mystic Falls and in Whitmore. Not to mention she would always want to stop by frequently to visit her mother's grave. _Lord, what would Liz Forbes make of you and Klaus Mikaelson? _she thought to herself. _She'd be glad you didn't have it shut off for good. That's for sure. _

Bonnie had returned to the car to sit in the air conditioning while they all finished up and Elena went to round up Damon. It was only then that Stefan finally began to approach her; hands in his pockets while her arms were crossed almost defensively across her chest.

"It's good to see you back," was all Stefan said to her first.

"It's good to be back," she replied.

And, in that instant, they both realized how silly it was to be skittish around each other. They'd had an awkward episode before she turned it off. It had partly _led _to her turning it off. So what? She was back now and had new perspective and they were still best friends. He always would be her best friend.

Seemingly on the same train of thought, they both opened their arms to hug each at the same time. Caroline's face broke out into a smile and Stefan held her against him, happy that she was okay, even if she wouldn't be returning with them.

Across the parking lot, Klaus had to visibly hold himself back from speeding over to break them apart and break Stefan's jaw. Jealousy washed over him in a sickening hot wave and he saw red. Logically, he had trusted Caroline when she'd told him that she was staying. That still didn't ease the rage he felt at another man touching her. Particularly one who admitted to having _feelings _for her.

"Easy Klaus," Elena snapped in a huff. "She said she was staying with you. She said you were her trigger. But Stefan is her friend and she deserves to say goodbye."

_She said I was her trigger? _was all Klaus could think. The jealousy ebbed in an instant as he was flooded with disbelief over the revelation. They hadn't yet discussed what had caused her emotions to return. Klaus had figured she would tell him when the time was right.

Catching sight of his shocked face, Elena realized that she may have spoke too soon. She shot Damon a nervous glare and he mouthed out the word _yikes _before turning to Klaus and saying, "Well, it's been fun Klaus but… we're going to wait in the car now!"

Damon dashed off, pulling Elena with them but, before she hopped in the car she hissed at Klaus over her shoulder, "_Don't _tell her I said anything!"

Klaus gave her an untrustworthy smile and made the boy scout's honor hand gesture. Sure, he wouldn't confront Caroline with this knowledge while she was still hurting and recovering. But he knew Caroline was stubborn as hell about admitted her feelings for him and he was almost positive he'd be the one that needed to make the first move _this _time around.

Second move, really. She'd already decided to stay with him. That should have been clue enough that he'd had something to do with her return to humanity. But, with Elena's insight or not, he probably wouldn't _truly _believe it until he heard it from Caroline herself.

"It's been no picnic, of course," Caroline continued to Stefan at the far end of the parking lot. They'd broken their hug and were now standing next to each other looking out in the direction of the airport where a small Alaskan Airlines jet was still steadily rising in the sky. "The grief over my mother only seems to have tripled since I shut it off, not to mention…"

Caroline had to pause to collect herself. She was done with the tears; she wouldn't indulge herself in weepiness. But, every time she began to talk about the days without her humanity, she couldn't help but to become enraged with herself.

Stefan pressed her to him without thinking, looping an arm around her shoulders. He wouldn't push her to continue just yet.

Across the parking lot, Klaus audibly hissed and Elena flashed him another glare.

"_Seriously, _Klaus?" Bonnie demanded from the car. "She's waiting for you to trust her right now."

Knowing that Bonnie was right, unfortunately, Klaus cast one final disdainful look at the whole affair before settling back inside his own vehicle with an agitated and petulant look on his face.

"So, I gather that you're staying here," Stefan told Caroline, his arm still wrapped around her shoulder.

"I am," she admitted before softly looking to gaze into Stefan's eyes. "I'm in love with him."

Stefan closed his eyes and sighed. "You have been for awhile, haven't you?"

Caroline nodded, "Probably since well before I even shut my humanity off," she told him.

"And you're definitely going to stay? Here in NOLA?" he asked,

She nodded again. "I'll be visiting Virginia soon, I have a lot to pack up," Caroline said. "But I do want to stay with Klaus. No matter what. I love him."

"If I had told you my feelings earlier…" Stefan began, "Would things be different?"

Caroline 8 had to do her damnedest not to let out a noise of frustration. They'd already _had _this conversation when her humanity had been off.

"Of course they would," Caroline repeated from an earlier conversation. "Likely I never would have turned my humanity off at all. But, the fact of the matter is, I _did _turn my humanity off. And you weren't the person to get it back on. Klaus was. And now I would do anything to stay with him."

Stefan nodded resolutely before pressing a soft kiss to her temple, which made Caroline afraid to even _glance _back to Klaus but also sent a flurry of happiness to settle in her stomach. It wasn't a romantic connection, not anymore. Caroline was just relieved have her friends back and, more importantly, to be able to _care _about them again.

"We just want you to be happy, Care," he said. "Everyone deserves to be happy but especially you."

"Thanks Stefan," Caroline replied with a smile as they parted from their hug.

"But rumors of what goes on in this city travel quickly in the vampire community," Stefan said. "There's talk of unrest in the city. Promise me that if anything happens you'll call us and find some way to get us back in this city?"

"I'll call you,:" Caroline agreed. "But I'm not having you drain yourself just to get the vervain out of your system so Klaus can end his compulsion."

"Ah, so you _are _determined to keep us out of your new empire for good then?" he asked her jokingly.

"Empire? Hardly. It's one of my biggest regrets that I had Klaus compel you out of the city… who knows when we'll be able to visit again?" Caroline asked, her voice forelorn.

"Well… you do still have a lot of loose ends in Virginia. Saying goodbye, dropping out of Whitmore…" he let the sentence hang not wanting to bring up finishing up her mother's affairs and deciding what to do with the house.

"What are you suggesting?" she asked.

"Let's say that if you were to come back up to get started on your big move in, I don't know, say a week… I don't think anyone would be hard pressed to stay off vervain that long so Klaus could end the compulsion when we saw you next," he said. "Things are decidedly low-key in Mystic Falls right now."

Caroline smiled, "You'd really do that? You think everyone would agree to it?"

"Well, Damon might take some bribing but-"

Caroline interrupted him to wrap herself around him in one final bear hug.

"See you in a week," she whispered into his ear.

* * *

Klaus wanted to be counting his blessings - Caroline was, after all, still here in the car with him and going back to his house. But, when they'd left earlier that morning she had still been the picture of forlorn. Now, after meeting with her friends, Caroline looked much more like her former self. He was, of course, ecstatic to see her even marginally happy again but, he couldn't help but feel it all had something to do with that bloody Salvatore.

They were driving back into the city now, up Decatur street to get back to The Abattoir. Caroline had her sunglasses on with her head practically leaning out the window to soak up some of the sunshine. She had a quiet smile playing at her lips. Klaus didn't want to interrupt her moment but he finally couldn't wait any longer. He needed to tactfully demand some answers.

"So I gather that went well?" he asked her.

She looked back over to him in the driver's seat, popping up her sunglasses to make eye contact, "They forgave me," she said with a grin that suggested she still didn't quite yet grasp it. "We're still friends."

"No offense, love," Klaus said, "But I don't think you were ever in as much danger of losing their friendship as you thought. Stefan and Elena have both been in your position before. Damon has done worse things with his humanity _on_. And Bonnie Bennett had always possessed an incredible empathy, anyone can see that."

Caroline's eyes crinkled as she smiled even wider. She took the hand Klaus had resting on the car's clutch in her own and she heard his breath catch briefly in his throat as his eyes met hers in the rear-view mirror. The truth was, Caroline was _touched _by how well he seemed to understand her friends and thus, her life. Klaus had always been a scarily observant man but, she couldn't help but feel, the fact that he'd picked up on Bonnie's empathy had more to do with him genuinely wanting to get to know the people close to her than keep tabs on them.

Then, she had to stifle a laugh. She was being ridiculous if she couldn't acknowledge that Klaus would _also _always be keeping tabs on everyone. But, suddenly, such aspects of his personality didn't bother her in the slightest. She was now finding that almost every discovery she made about Klaus simply served to endear him to her more.

"You look so much happier," he said and Caroline could tell there was a minute amount of hurt lacing the relief in his words.

"I have my friends back," she said first. "And they're all happy that I'm happy. I literally couldn't have imagined a more perfect outcome."

"And Stefan?" Klaus asked.

Caroline gripped his hand a little tighter in her own. So there it was. The concern.

"He's happy for me," Caroline answered. "He knows things could have been different between us but… now they never can be. Stefan is a good guy. He's happy to stay my best friend."

She noticed Klaus's hand grip her own considerably tighter and she rolled her eyes.

"And that's something you're just going to have to get used to," she replied smartly. "He's my _best _friend Klaus; he's always going to be a part of my life."

"I'm aware of that, love and, after everything you've been through, I'm not anxious to take away anything that makes you happy," Klaus told her softly. "But if there's something _you're _just going to have to get used to, it's that I'm an extremely jealous man by nature."

Caroline rolled her eyes but couldn't help the little shiver of desire that spread through her body. If she was really being honest with herself, one of the main reasons she'd ultimately fallen for Klaus - even _before _she'd turned it off - was because of his desire for her. Caroline had never been _wanted _(needed?) so deeply before.

"I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more than just that to get used to," she laughed and turned to look out the window again.

But before she did, they caught each others eyes in the rear view mirror a final time. Klaus something in her eyes: The lust was unmistakable.

* * *

Caroline all but broke down the doors to The Abattoir herself, latching onto him the moment they'd both stepped out of the car and pressing his back forcefully into the locked doors.

Klaus wrapped his arms tightly around Caroline's back, trying to regain _some _control of the kiss. She'd sprung it on him out of nowhere the second they were both out of his car. Yes, he _had _noticed the passion in her eyes while they were driving but he'd honestly convinced himself that she still wouldn't be ready for intimacy quite yet. She'd just gotten her emotions back, for God's sake, he was happy enough to know that she wanted to be with him. He didn't need to rush her into anything else while all of her feelings were still settling and going haywire.

But then she'd pounced on him after he parked the car. The moment he'd closed his door and locked it behind him, she'd sped in front of him, first pushing him dominantly onto the hood of his car - almost hard enough to dent it, he was sure. Her soft lips were tugging at his insistently, silently begging him to open his mouth and, when he did she quickly slipped her own in. It elicited a quick and surprised groan from him, forcing him to part from her just briefly enough to begin a sentence:

"Caroline, sweetheart, are you sure-"

She silenced him by pressing her lips to his own again and promptly pushing his hands down from her back to grab her ass. The decisiveness of the move had him hard in under a second and, before he realized what he was doing, he'd flipped them so he was the one pressing her into the hood of the car.

Caroline looked up at him to catch the yellow coming out in his eyes, signalling his wolf side was now present. It didn't intimidate her in the slightest. Instead, Caroline found herself so aroused that she was able to localize her strength enough to forcefully push him off of her and back into the closed front doors where they proceeded to make out for a good five minutes while Klaus devised every conceivable trick he could think of to get Caroline off of him _just long enough _to unlock the doors and get them inside! She was not to be deterred though and, every time he'd release her waist or his grip on her ass long enough to fumble for the keys, she'd reposition his hands to touch another part of her.

"Caroline, _please, _we at least need to get inside," Klaus told her.

As soon as the admission left his lips, the front door opened behind them, sending them both stumbling backwards. Elijah was there to meet them.

"Caroline, my dear," Elijah began, "It is lovely to see you back. Unfortunately, some terrible events have transpired and everyone seems to be blaming them on you."

Klaus couldn't hold back his growl, yet again.

"What are you talking about brother?" Klaus demanded.

"A wolf from the crescent pack has been murdered in cold blood," Elijah explained. "Aiden."

"And how is this _our _problem?" Klaus insisted.

"Because everyone thinks Caroline is responsible," Elijah replied.

* * *

**So, long author's notes ahead but I have some important announcements. First of all, welcome to all the new readers! Happy to have you here and hear your thoughts!**

**Guys, a million apologies again for the delay; it was due to your kind words reminding me that you were waiting that I pushed this through today. I promise I haven't been ignoring or forgotten about this fic, the past couple of chapters have just been very difficult for me to write and I take my time until I'm sure every scene is playing out the way I want it to. **

**Those of you who follow me across multiple stories and platforms are getting sick of hearing this but, the Klaroline Awards have officially moved from the nominations phase to the voting phase and THANK YOU ALL: I am proud to announce that I have been nominated for three Klaroline Awards on Tumblr! In the Fiction section **_**Demeter's Daughter**_ **is up for Best Romance (!) and **_**Inferno**_ **is up for Best Action / Adventure. In the Author's section of the awards I have been nominated for Best Caroline Author which I am so so so honored about. I really am sorry to be repeating it all over the place but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pumped as fuck and I won't rest until everyone who nominated me knows my gratitude is unending! Congrats to my fellow nominees; I was very happy to see some familiar names also recognized! ;) I really can't express my gratitude enough to all my readers, this has totally made my week… month? Whatever. **

**Finally, the awesome Klaroline tumblr community has been SO inspiring that I've finally bit the bullet and got myself a tumblr. My username there is the same (AmericanWordsmith) and, in addition to regular bloggy things, I will be posting Klaroline-y goodness, sneak peeks, drabbles, one-shots and taking requests. Not everything published over there will end up over here and, last night, I posted a sneak peek of this very chapter. Check it out and lets be tumblr friends! ;) **


	19. Suspect

"_We're out of fruit; we're damaged goods. What the hell? We've got nothing more to lose," - _Radiohead, _Backdrifts_

_**19**_

_**Suspect  
**_

"Okay, not that I don't feel bad about the loss of another innocent life," Caroline began when they all entered the house to collect in the study, "But this one really isn't on me. I don't even know who Aiden is!"

"To be fair," Elijah responded, "Did you know any of those men you killed in Atlanta? What about the drug lord whose penis you bit off, do you remember his name?"

Caroline glared down at the floor flushing in embarrassment and shame. _Of course _that _would be the kill they most remembered._ Was she ever going to live this down?

Klaus could sense her growing discomfort and it made him angry. How dare Elijah make this any harder on Caroline than it already was? He was at her side in the next second, lifting up her head softly by her chin.

"You have nothing to be upset about right now; you didn't kill that boy Aiden," Klaus assured her before turning to Elijah with a menacing glare. "And before you continue these needless accusations brother, you will remember that Caroline has an alibi. She hasn't even _been _in the city the past few days. Aiden was found, what? A few hours ago?"

Elijah nodded his head in confirmation.

"Yes, I understand the situation Klaus," he replied. "Nevertheless, just because we knew Caroline was no longer in the city does not seem to ease everyone else's suspicions. Caroline has built a lot of ill will towards herself here."

Klaus paced away from her, suppressing a groan. It was true. Caroline had burned some bridges. And now, even though he had her back, it wasn't going to be easy to keep her safe… particularly if Dahlia was really planning to reappear and fight for Freya. And, unfortunately as soon the thought had crossed his mind, Elijah confirmed the fear.

"And, as you've both been kept so preoccupied with Caroline's little charade as of late," Elijah continued, "There have been a great many problems that we've all been left to deal with on our own here."

In truth, Klaus had been more involved that he let on. He and Aiden had made a pact with one another shortly before Caroline had arrived… agreeing to help him replace Jackson as pack alpha in exchange for his loyalty. Jackson and some others had been surreptitiously been keeping tabs on everyone involved what was going on. But, to be honest, not much had changed despite the supposed Dahlia threats.

"Dahlia," Klaus said immediately and Elijah nodded grimly. "She's still just after Freya is she not?" Klaus asked. "I'm quite _sure _I would have been informed if further threats had been made on my daughter who is now safely returned to our home…" He growled out the last part as more of threat.

Because god knew if anyone had kept something from him while he was distracted by Caroline…

"Wait a minute," Caroline interrupted. Despite being in her own self-centered universe while her emotions had been off, Caroline had also spent a great deal of her time listening in on whatever secret Mikaelson conversations she could. She believed she vaguely remembered something about Klaus's newly returned immortal witch sister trying to escape an evil aunt… or something crazy. In fact, hadn't she snapped the girls neck? "This is about your sister Freya? Your evil aunt is coming after her?"

"That's about the jist of it," Klaus replied, almost shortly. He really didn't want to be dealing with this. "Though Freya seems to being attempting to gain our help by a ridiculous manipulation tactic… suggesting Dahlia might be after Hope."

"Good lord," Caroline sighed. "_Why _would she be after your daughter?"

"Dahlia invented her own practice of magic," Elijah explained. "Freya calls it a means of linking to other sources of power. First she linked to Freya's power and now she may be after Hope's. She has a tendency to pursue the firstborns in our family line because they will help her to achieve immortality."

"The firstborns?" Caroline asked, a frown descending over her features, "But couldn't that also be…"

"What love?" Klaus implored when she trailed off. Not only was Caroline back, from second to second she was displaying how truly she'd returned… and specifically to _him. _Now she was coming up with theories on _his _behalf? He could still barely believe it was happening. "Please tell me whatever you're thinking, you always can."

Elijah had to hold back a smirk. They'd been trying to engage Klaus about Dahlia and Freya for _weeks _with no successes. The moment Caroline Forbes stepped in with even a minute amount of interest, that all changed. He could see how Caroline's aid would be beneficial in making Klaus reassess his priorities going forward. That is, if she truly planned to stay.

"Well, I don't want to drag up in unnecessary past family drama but you all… you guys…. um, you and Freya-" Caroline was gesturing awkwardly between Klaus and Elijah, not knowing how to continue this conversation gracefully.

"Niklaus does not have the same father as Freya or myself," Elijah finished smoothly for her.

Klaus seemed unperturbed by the blank factual statement so Caroline nodded her thanks to Elijah for guessing what she had to say and continued.

"Right so, in a certain sense, even though Freya is the firstborn of Esther and Mikael's line…" Caroline trailed off again.

"I may be the first born of Esther's line with the werewolf she cheated on Mikael with?" Klaus questioned, trying to finish her thought for her.

"I mean, I'm not entirely sure how magic witchy-genealogy works but it's a theory anyway," Caroline finished.

Klaus threw his head back in genuine raucous laughter. His shoulders were shaking from it. Caroline rolled her eyes in Elijah's direction, knowing that he wasn't laughing at her. Klaus was laughing at the concept that Dahlia might be a threat to _him_, of all people.

"I'd like to see her _try _to come after me," Klaus growled.

"Would you, Klaus? Because both Hope and I are here now and Elijah seems to think Dahlia is a legitimate threat," Caroline said. "What if she does more than come after you? What if she finds a way to make you come to her?"

Klaus snarled in terrifying earnest at that suggestion.

"She wouldn't dare try," he hissed.

"Alright, _sure_," she chided sarcastically. "Cause the last time _I _was dealing with an immortal witch, my life _definitely _wasn't threatened."

Klaus knew she was referring to everything that had transpired with Silas and Qetsiyah.

"Look, be as stubborn about this as you want, Klaus," Caroline continued, "But _I'm _going to be looking into this as long as I'm here. It's the smartest thing to do."

Privately, Klaus more than agreed. Also privately, he was thrilled by the prospect of working alongside Caroline in her element - _scheming. _It also happened to be _his _element and he knew from experience they worked very well together; he was sure that their partnering abilities would only have become more valuable now that they were true allies. Nevertheless he had _just _gotten her here. Sure, he'd technically had her for nearly two weeks now but that hadn't been _her. _Was it so terrible that he wanted to just shove all the Dahlia nonsense aside to bask in a honeymoon period for a little bit now that Caroline was finally, willingly _his? _

"I completely agree, Miss Forbes," Elijah told her. "But, unfortunately, until we can convince the rest of the supernatural population of New Orleans of your innocence, I fear your presence will be more of a distraction than an asset."

"Are you asking me to leave?" Caroline responded. As she had told Klaus before, she had every intention of staying with him now but, if her presence was a threat to the safety of the rest of the city - or god forbid Klaus himself - she wouldn't hesitate to return to Virginia.

"You most certainly _will not _be leaving," Klaus spat, pulling her harshly to his side and clutching her around her waist with near-bruising possessive force. Caroline could not help at all how she swooned inside at the feeling. She'd spent so much of her time hemming and hawing about hating the alpha-male aspect of Klaus that she had nearly overlook how sexy it was and how confident it made her feel.

"Of course that was not what I was suggesting," he replied easily. Caroline could tell it was taking a lot of willpower for him not to roll his eyes, an expression he likely considered extremely gauche. "But I do think it would be best if you stayed at the Abattoir until we can clear your name at least for this particular crime."

"Alright," she conceded with a resigned nod. "But please tell me that's not gonna be long."

"Elijah, I assume the body has already been recovered but I want Freya taking a look at it to see if she can assess what happened," Klaus ordered. "In the meantime, Caroline and I have been waiting for a moment to discuss a great many things in private. We were headed off to do just that when _you _interrupted, brother."

Finally, Elijah _did _roll his eyes. And the look was so absurd on him that Caroline noticeably choked back a laugh.

"Yes, Niklaus, because a _discussion _is exactly what it looked like I was interrupting," Elijah replied sarcastically before turning to head off in search of Freya. "My sincerest apologies!"

Caroline snickered at his retreating back and Klaus glanced down to her at his side, lovingly.

"Now, where were we?" he asked before leaning down to steal another kiss, grasping her chin in his hand as he did.

* * *

He didn't waste any time in flashing them up the stairs, carrying her bridal style which Caroline couldn't help but feel enamored with, before tossing her gently onto his bed and beginning to crawl over top of her with a playful growl. She let him start to kiss her, almost losing her train of thought when her hand automatically crept up to caress over his shoulders and down his back.

Klaus was positioned in between her legs even though they were both still fully clothed and he pulled a move that he had doubtless learned was very effective on her at this point - he ground their cores into one another, enough so that he knew the fabric of her jeans and panties would be brushing up against her skin with sinful friction. The feeling made her moan out harshly and Klaus didn't even bother trying to hide the lust-laced laugh provided in response. Pulling the move a second time. _God he loved the feel of her rutting up against him like that. _

"Klaus!" she cried out, attempting to prompt him into cooling down for a second but he misread her cry as one of pleading to keep _going _and she felt him reach down between them to begin undoing the button of her pants. "No, Klaus, wait-"

"Now, darling, you _know_ I have a very particular order in which I favor seeing you come undone, I promise I'll let you dictate next time but for now-"

"No, it's not that," she interrupted, reaching down with her own hand to stop his. He immediately pulled her hand up to his lips to press a gentle kiss to each of her fingers.

"Then what is it, love?" he asked, his blue eyes boring into hers with intensity she wasn't sure she'd ever stop feeling intimidated by. "Nervous about our first time since you've admitted your feelings for me? I promise it will be so much better..."

Caroline scoffed at him, slapping his touch away jokingly. Truth be told, she _was _worried how intimate it was going to be. It had already been so intimate that year before in the woods and she hadn't even been in lov-

She cut herself off with that sobering thought. _Too soon, like, way too soon. _Right? He _had _been her trigger.

_Not now, stay on task!_

"_No, _I just think… given how much history you and I have, we'd be doing ourselves a disservice not to talk a few things over first," she finished.

Klaus sighed at that statement, knowing she was right. He hauled himself off of her and pulled her sitting up so they could tuck into one another on the bed affectionately.

"Alright, love, I agree," he said. "You seem like you have somewhere you want to start."

Caroline grew a little tense knowing where she wanted to start too damn well. Elijah had reminded her of it. It was going to be uncomfortable but she chugged ahead anyway, determined to make this work.

"You have… a baby, with _Hayley_," she said, frustrated. "Why does every guy I like either end up fucking Hayley Marshall or Elena Gilbert?"

The question was obviously rhetorical so instead he responded, "You like me?"

She had been avoiding his eyes by staying curled into his side while they sat at the edge of the bed but, now, she stared back at him, unamused by his gentle teasing, "Klaus, I think you know I a lot more than _like _you."

He couldn't help how his heart soared when she said that. Part of him wanted to push her, to shake her, even, and beg for her to finally come out with it. _I love you, _he screamed at her internally. _Tell me you love me too. _But he'd waited this long — still less time than he expected in the scheme of things; he'd always expected it to take a century at least for Caroline to come around. So, he could continue to wait to let her say it in her own time.

"Well," he said, trying to make her feel better. "Just because Hayley and I shared a drunken tryst doesn't mean she was ever truly my lover. I'm not Tyler Lockwood. And I've no plans to share a bed with Elena."

The thought of Tatia, one of Elena's doppelgangers, flashed through Caroline's mind but she chose not to bring it up.

"I'm not joking Klaus," Caroline said. "This is hard for me. Hayley and I have a terrible history that's only gotten worse recently."

"I know... of course I know," he replied. "After I slept with her all I wanted to do was take it back because I worried you would see it as a betrayal. And when I found out she was pregnant I was sure I'd lost you forever."

"Why _did_ you sleep with her?" Caroline asked. "When you knew how much I hated her?"

"Because I was alone and you didn't want me and she was there and…" he trailed off. "Did I mention that you didn't want me? It hurt, love, what else can I say? I was trying to dull the pain and it didn't work."

Caroline could understand that, of course. She knew all too well what it was like to feel unloved and unwanted. And now that her feelings had grown so intensely for Klaus, she was feeling more than slightly abashed about how long she'd played blind to her own feeling for him… which truly had been there in some form all along.

"Alright, I get that," she said, sighing when she felt him kiss the top of her head in pure gratitude in response. "But it's not going to be easy. Me here with her also here. Dahlia or not, Hayley and I are _not_ friends."

"Considering my own _more _than contemptuous relationship with her, I doubt that will be too much of a problem," he replied with a chuckle. "But more importantly, love. My daughter. Hope. I know you still haven't even really met her but… where does a baby factor into your life plans?"

His voice was raw with emotion at that question and Caroline knew now was a time she could _not _mess up her answer. Pulling away from his side, she knelt in front of him on the bed, taking his face in her hands, and peering softly into his fraught eyes before responding. She wanted to give his answer proper consideration.

"It is a lot and it is happening fast," she said. "After becoming a vampire I never thought I'd have children. I'd always wanted kids as a human but… _eventually_. Not while I was still in college."

"You're going back to school?" he asked, startled. He didn't think she had plans to return to Virginia.

She placed a hand over his, smiling at how flustered he became. "Tulane has a drama school, Klaus," she explained. "I'm transferring, relax."

He smiled, relieved but feeling almost foolish. Only Caroline could do that to him. She'd told him again and again now that she planned to stay and he needed to begin trusting her. He leaned over to kiss her sweetly, a hand pressed into her cheek. In the midst of this type of conversation, it was hard to pull apart, while they were both being so gentle with one another.

When they pulled apart she said, "Honestly, though, Klaus… I've never been more excited. After I lost my mom I had _no _family."

"She'll grow up thinking of you like a mother," Klaus said. "If you want her to. If you want to think of her as your daughter… nothing else in the world would make me happier."

Caroline was more than touched by his offer. Klaus would give her the world if he could, she knew that. He would give her anything it was in his power to grant her.

But she'd never thought one of those things could be a child. Nevertheless, she doubted _everyone _would be quite so on board with this plan.

"Please, as soon as she's only enough to talk, Hayley's going to have her chanting '_Kill Caroline!"_" the blonde fussed.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Hayley may be her mother but _I _have final say on whoever is or isn't in Hope's life," he said. Caroline had to bite back a laugh. Klaus was always the control freak, using his _I'm-a-deadly-serious-Original-Hybrid _voice and everything.

But then he grew softer again, looking up at her with a trace of nervousness.

"Give Hayley time," he said. "You don't have to be friends but she'll see you're good for Hope eventually. No mother wants their child to have _less _love in their life."

Caroline supposed this was true. Liz Forbes had a notoriously awful relationship with her sister-in-law, who had died not too long before Liz herself. But, even after Bill had left them, Caroline's aunt loved her fiercely and Liz respected that. She respected that, despite her own spite for the woman, she knew Caroline cared for her. If Hayley was a good mother, she'd make similar sacrifices for Hope.

But watching Klaus watch her, with such a look of contentment on his face, she couldn't help but cock her head at him and study him briefly in return. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with Klaus. About a _baby _and living with Hayley, no less. Sometimes it felt like she was living in a parallel universe. But fatherhood had undoubtedly matured Klaus, given him an entire new side. She thought maybe it had been his development of compassion that had finally gotten through to her while she'd had her humanity off.

It was all enough to almost make her tear up, so she deflected an episode of crying with a joke, "Yeah well we're _definitely _never gonna be friends," she said, referring to Hayley.

"Mmm, I think I would be disturbed to hear anything different," Klaus joked lightly, reaching up to cup her face again, noticing the pure emotion in her eyes. He'd _missed _that so desperately.

"Well, we don't have to figure out all the logistics right now," she demurred finally. "At least it's good to know we're on the same page about most of this stuff."

"Yes, except about Dahlia is would appear…" Klaus trailed.

"Except about that," she agreed, wincing. All she could think was that if Elijah was worried, they _definitely _needed to be worried.

"Love you know almost nothing about her, do you really think she could be a threat?" Klaus asked.

_I know a lot more than you realize, _she thought as she remembered all her time spying while she'd been stuck in the guest room to keep her from doing any more damage.

"I don't know," Caroline decided to tell him instead. "But I'm concerned about it."

"Well, then, let's go," Klaus ordered, standing up and reaching for her hand. "If you're worried then it's my job to assuage all of your concerns."

"Where are we going?" she asked, following behind him with their hands clasped together.

"Do you remember the first time you met Gia?" Klaus asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"Of course, she's just another person I have to make amends with, right?" she asked. "At least I didn't physically harm _her._"

"I'm not bringing this up to further rake you over the coals about your past indiscretions, love," he assured. "Do you remember when she asked you if I'd taught you how to fight? As Elijah did for her?"

"Yeah," Caroline replied, still not understanding where he was going with this. "I told her that I already knew how to fight which, maybe you didn't notice while I had my humanity off but, I _can."_

"Well, while I'm sure your man-to-man combat skills are quite formidable," Klaus continued, "It doesn't hurt to see if they're still as fast as they were when your humanity was off. Not to mention, have you ever had any training _using _magic?"

* * *

**Well everyone, we have officially reached the final story arc of **_**Demeter's Daughter. **_**I know I'm always apologizing for the delay but, now that we're in roughly T-minus 5 chapter or less till this is finished, I should be updating more. Plus, a reader on Tumblr mentioned that rather have shorter more frequent updates rather than longer more spaced out ones so… I'm officially putting less pressure on myself to keep these at 4,500-6,000 words. Shooting for a bit less than that as we wrap up this fic should help speed up updates. **

**And yeaaaah, we're doing a fight training scene next. Cause everyone loves those. Right, not just me? They're a particularly lovely trope within the Klaroline ship and I can't keep myself away!**

**Anyway, apologies in advance for anything off about the Dahlia plot. I know I said initially I wasn't going to touch that plotline with a 10 foot pole but, I ultimately came up with a fun way to work Caroline in. That being said, the actual Dahlia plot on the show confused **_**the hell **_**out of me so I'm not sure everything will line up or be explained exactly right. That's mostly okay because, now that Caroline's involved, it's all going to play out very differently. Oh, and still no… "drop everything to save the baby!" plot. Dahlia is **_**not **_**primarily here for Hope in my story. I'm not dealing with the rescue Hope nonsense. The only way I'll be addressing Hope, for the time being, is as a baller grown-ass woman and post-apocalyptic fighter in my other story **_**Inferno**_**. (Have I sufficiently plugged that yet?) **

**Anyway, so considering how close to finished this is and how the last several chapters will be a bit shorter… my plan is to have this finished by mid-November if possible. If anyone is even still reading this thing anyway. Are you still here? Hellloooo? Does anyone even remember what's happening? Where **_**are **_**we? **_**When **_**are we? **


End file.
